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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125108">The Things We Do For Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nomolosk/pseuds/Nomolosk'>Nomolosk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family Matters [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:41:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,593</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125108</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nomolosk/pseuds/Nomolosk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Felix is getting married. It's tradition that the eldest child in the Graham de Vanily family use the Twin Rings as their wedding rings, passed down through each successive generation, and Felix has no intention of breaking with tradition. There's only one problem.</p><p>Felix only has one of the rings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bridgette/Félix Graham de Vanily</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family Matters [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>August 2020 - Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaFC/gifts">JuliaFC</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Felix Graham de Vanily waited in a car outside the building his cousin’s latest photoshoot was being conducted in. As much as he would rather have contacted Adrien directly, they had never been very close. Felix didn’t much care for Adrien’s naive and optimistic view of life, but it was something he could and had played on, and he was loath to sever the connection entirely. After all, he might need Adrien some day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That day had now come, and since he couldn’t be sure his cousin’s phone wasn’t being monitored, he’d had to come in person to talk to Adrien. Felix hadn’t visited Paris in person since stealing one of the twin rings from Gabriel, and he rather doubted his uncle would ignore his presence if he knew of it. Even less if he knew Felix was visiting Adrien. It was therefore essential that his uncle know nothing about his visit. Hence the non-descript rental car.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was planning on following Adrien back to his apartment. He assumed his cousin’s model status required him to still have a driver, so it took him by surprise when Adrien walked out of the building and, instead of stepping into the waiting limo, started walking down the sidewalk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Grumbling to himself, Felix stepped out of the car and started following his cousin, trying to remain discreet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien Agreste quietly slipped away from everyone and ducked back into his dressing room. This photoshoot had dragged on and on, but after three endless hours, it was finally over. They wouldn’t have continued if it hadn’t been such a time-crunch, but it was the last shoot for the new catalogue, and all the pictures were due </span>
  <em>
    <span>today</span>
  </em>
  <span>. As always, he felt drained by the endless finicking, smiling, and adjustments. He actually wished he’d had a partner for the shoot today, just to make the time pass more quickly. Although, if it had been Lila, the shoot probably would have lasted even longer. She was not the type to take direction without a lot of arguing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He quickly wiped most of the make-up off and got dressed in his street clothes, calling to Plagg to come out of hiding. Most of the time he could get away with wearing his ring during a photoshoot, but sometimes he was forced to take it off, and when that happened, he gave it to Plagg and told him to hide in the air vent until he was done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg dropped the ring back into his waiting hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, buddy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever. You owe me double the camembert for this- I don’t like it when you’re not wearing the ring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien sighed. “Me, neither. But the only other person I’d trust to take care of my miraculous would be Ladybug and it’s not like I can just call her on the phone. Besides, she wouldn’t do it because it would lead to my identity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about your girlfriend?” Plagg asked, crossing his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Marinette?” Adrien’s smile grew fond. “Well… I guess I probably would trust her with it if I had to, but I’d really rather not. Remember Alix’s watch? The one that turned out to be a Miraculous in disguise?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg scoffed. “That was a series of mishaps, and it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Chloe</span>
  </em>
  <span> who dropped it. Besides, you were both barely teenagers back then. I’m sure she would remember that she’s got pockets this time around.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you’re the kwami of bad luck. I don’t want to inflict that on her. And the point remains that anything can and could happen if I’m not wearing the ring, and I’d like to keep that possibility to an absolute minimum. So as much as I trust Marinette, I think I’ll still send </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> off with the ring when I can’t be wearing it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg shrugged again. “Whatever. I’m just saying… she’s usually around these things now that she’s working for your dad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Adrien said, thoughtfully. “You have a point. Maybe I could at least talk to her about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You do that,” Plagg yawned. “I didn’t get my usual nap, so come on and let’s go so I can get some sleep.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chuckling to himself, Adrien held open his overshirt so Plagg could fly into the inner pocket there. It was the tail end of summer, and his university classes would be starting back up soon. He was looking forward to it, since his modeling schedule got considerably lighter during the semester.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien left the dressing room and once again avoided all the drama ensuing over something he’d rather not know about. It was always stressful releasing a new catalogue, or the month right before fashion week, and it made him glad that, as a model, he wasn’t really responsible for anything but his own performance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien felt eyes on him as soon as he left the building, turning and walking down the sidewalk towards the apartment he shared with Nino and Max. Now that he was in university, he’d persuaded Father to forgo the driver, and even though he missed the Gorilla, he didn’t miss being chaperoned and chauffeured everywhere. It was a tiny bit of freedom, since he still had a daily schedule to keep, but it was freedom nonetheless. He’d even convinced Father to let him get a driver’s license. It made it possible to claim he’d been caught up in traffic when there was an akuma fight to get to. Driving in Paris traffic might not always be the most fun thing, but it did make for plausible excuses sometimes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien casually opened his shirt a little, as if looking for something, and hissed, “Take a look over my shoulder, will you? There’s someone following me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg’s green eyes glared up at him, but the little kwami did as he was asked, using the collar of Adrien’s shirt as cover from the front. He sank back down into his pocket after a moment and said, “It’s your evil twin. Want me to cataclysm him this time?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien rolled his eyes and smirked. “That won’t be necessary, but thanks.” He let the jacket fall shut and increased his pace, going around a corner where he knew his superior speed would let him get to the entrance of an alleyway before his cousin could round the corner and see him. A few moments after he’d entered the alley, he heard a soft curse and the sound of rapid footsteps. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Felix,” he said, as his cousin cleared the mouth of the alley. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix stopped dead in his tracks and turned slowly on his heels, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he looked at Adrien through slightly narrowed eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien,” he said by way of greeting. “You’re faster than I anticipated. Also, more observant.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Care to explain why you feel the need to follow me instead of just calling and asking to meet up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sighed heavily. “I’m getting married.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien blinked. “... Congrats? I don’t understand how that connects to following me around, though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix rolled his eyes. “Of course it doesn’t! At least, only obliquely. I… would like your help with something, and it would go much more smoothly if no one else knew I was in town.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was Adrien’s turn to narrow his eyes. “Just what exactly do you want help </span>
  <em>
    <span>with?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing bad. Well, nothing that wouldn’t be justice, anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, alright. Look, can we meet somewhere you won’t be recognized and we won’t be overheard?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien thought, looking around at all the fresh new billboards. They featured his contoured (only lightly airbrushed) abs, and he’d had to resort to a bodyguard’s services again for a week after they were put up because of the fan furor. It was starting to die-down again, but Adrien was still very much on the public’s radar at the moment. The only reason he was walking back to the apartment was because it was relatively close to the location of the photoshoot this time. He pursed his lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, there’s only one place I’m absolutely confident no one will eavesdrop on us and has no cameras, and that’s my girlfriend’s bakery. Well, it’s her parent’s bakery, and take it from me, it is well worth visiting even despite the fact that it’s a safe place for this uber-secret discussion you need to have. I recommend… pretty much everything they bake.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And no one’s going to take pictures of you going there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I go there all the time. Like I said, my girlfriend lives there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In a bakery.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien rolled his eyes. “There’s an apartment above the actual business. And since we’ve been dating for two years now, it’s old news. No one will bother us.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He eyed his cousin thoughtfully. They still resembled each other, but time and maturity had done much to blur that twin-like appearance they’d had when they were younger. Felix’s face was longer, his hair had darkened a bit, and he wore glasses now. And Felix had always dressed more formally than Adrien had, or had wanted to. All in all, they no longer looked like twins. Felix might be mistaken for Adrien if the lighting wasn’t too good, but in broad daylight it shouldn’t be a problem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We shouldn’t show up together, but we don’t look so much alike anymore,” he said with authority. “So yeah, no one’s going to be watching the place, and no one should do a double take when they see what they think is </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> going in twice in different clothes. Meet me there in-,” he checked his phone and calculated how much traffic, subway times, and walking the crowded sidewalk would delay his cousin, “- about half an hour? I’ll text you the address.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded sharply. “Will you already be there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” Adrien smirked, thinking of just how quickly he could cover ground going over the roofs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix cocked an eyebrow, but let it pass. “Very well.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He started to turn away, but paused to add, “Thank you for this, Adrien. I know we haven’t been close, and it means a lot to me that you’re even willing to listen.” With another nod, he left the alley.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien looked after him for a moment before texting him the address of the bakery. Then he took the precaution of looking around the alley for windows or potential observers before finding a bit of cover and transforming. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Felix states his intentions in visiting Paris.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is kind of a rollercoaster toward the end.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>If it hadn’t been so close to the time Nino got off work, Adrien would have taken Felix back to his own apartment. But he figured it would be best if Nino and Felix didn’t meet. Or Max and Felix, for that matter, though Max would be at work until nine or ten, since his tech support shift didn’t start until after noon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He detransformed in a nearby alley, then entered through the bakery’s door. Marinette wasn’t at the bakery, of course, she was still at work, doing her best to get the catalogue out on time. But Adrien knew Tom and Sabine would most likely let him use the apartment above the bakery. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, dear!” Sabine waved from the register where she was ringing up another customer. The line wasn’t too long at this time of day, just one or two customers behind the one being rung up, so Adrien decided to wait. He checked his phone and decided Felix was probably only about halfway there, if that. He stood to the side, but it didn’t take long for Sabine to get the other customers squared away with their purchases and then they were alone in the small store. Adrien smiled warmly and happily accepted Sabine’s hug when she came around the counter to greet him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What brings you by? Not that we’re not always happy to see you, but you know Marinette isn’t home yet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, but I was hoping I could beg a favor. Can I use the apartment upstairs for… hm… a private conversation?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sabine’s eye’s started shining with hope. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is it about something to do with Marinette? Maybe you’re planning a little surprise?” she asked. Adrien’s grin faded a little. Sabine and Tom had been dropping some hints lately that they would be overjoyed if Marinette and Adrien took their relationship to the next level.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, not that. Not yet. I-I want to, but both of us are just insanely busy with everything right now. It’s not the right time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He and Ladybug had talked about it and they had both agreed that getting engaged to their significant others while they were still fighting Hawkmoth wasn’t the best idea. He knew she was in a serious relationship, too, but they’d agreed that trying to plan a wedding or two in the midst of akuma fights and everything else was just asking for trouble. He already considered himself the luckiest cat alive that Marinette was so understanding and non judgemental when he was late to things or had to dash when an akuma showed up during their limited time together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d asked her about it, trying to subtly pry whether it bothered her or not, and she always replied that she felt just as guilty for her own hectic schedule, and that she was just happy to spend as much time with him as she could. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sabine’s hope faded, but her smile stayed gentle. She patted his arm. “You know it’s probably never going to be ‘the right time,’ right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien nodded. “I know. But it would really add a lot more stress to both our lives to get engaged right now. We’ve talked about it a lot, actually.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And they had. Just as he’d talked about it with Ladybug, so he and Marinette had discussed where they saw their relationship going. He’d been relieved to hear that Marinette was happy with where they were right now, but that she did want more from him in the future. He’d almost melted when she bashfully admitted to her adolescent dreams of three kids and a hamster with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, as long as the lines of communication are open, I’m sure you’ll both figure it out,” Sabine said, patting his arm again. “Now. There isn’t going to be anything illegal going on?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, of course not!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And no one we should be concerned about allowing into our house will be there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien had to consider that. True, it had been years since Felix had dressed up as himself and tried to ruin his still fragile friendships with a nasty video message, but…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I think he’s okay. I’d bring him back to my apartment, or even take him to the mansion, but he’s trying to keep a low profile, and being seen with me right now...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sabine nodded knowingly. “Alright. I’m sure anyone you’d take home with you if you could will be fine in our home as well. Bring them in through the side entrance, alright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Sabine,” Adrien said, “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know. Now go on, pick out something to nibble on and get up there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien perused the display a bit before deciding on croissants (because it was practically illegal for any foreigner to visit Paris without eating one), his favorite salmon quiche, and a fruit tart he figured they could split if they felt like it. If not, he’d split it with Marinette later when she came home from work. She always felt better with a little sugar boost after a stressful day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took his selections up to the apartment and let himself in. He’d long since been given his own key, but he still took care never to intrude without asking. He didn’t want to lose any privileges, and since their relationship was public, there was no need for extraneous visits from Chat Noir unless there was something bothering Marinette that she just refused to tell Adrien. Even then, sometimes she wouldn’t even tell Chat, despite the fact that he was a superhero and therefore “safe.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix texted him when he got to the general area of the bakery, and Adrien ran down the stairs to let him in through the side entrance. Felix came in and looked around the small stairwell, glancing into the bakery through the connecting doorway. Adrien tried to gauge his reaction, but Felix wasn’t letting anything through his carefully neutral expression. So he led his cousin up to the apartment and let them both in. He’d gotten water boiling while he waited and there were two mugs on the counter just waiting for hot water and tea bags.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien directed Felix to sit at the small breakfast bar and went about his preparations, taking several tea boxes out of the cabinet and asking his preference.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is all very domestic,” Felix finally commented when Adrien slid him a mug. “Quite comfortable here, aren’t you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien could have taken offense, but he smiled instead. “I love it here. It’s warm and inviting- cozy, in fact- and no one makes me feel like I’m in the way or inconveniencing anyone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes…” Felix said thoughtfully. “Uncle Gabriel never struck me as the warmest person alive. And if I recall correctly, that assistant of his could live in Antarctica without the need for a parka.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien snorted a chuckle. “Nathalie’s alright in her own way, but you’re right. Neither she nor father are very demonstrative. I used to hope they would get together and maybe Father would start opening up again- be more like he was when Mother was still with us, but… I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded, and there was silence for a few moments while they each chose a pastry and munched.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” Felix finally said, brushing his fingers on a napkin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” Adrien repeated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I, uh… hm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien frowned. He’d never seen Felix this uncertain before. Whatever this was, it was obviously something big. He felt like he should say something to help him feel more comfortable, but he honestly didn’t know what that would be. Felix was a lot like Father in that he didn’t like to show his emotions, and like he had said before, they weren’t particularly close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally Felix took a deep breath. “I suppose I should start from the beginning. Have you heard of the Graham de Vanily Twin Rings?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien shook his head, sitting back and folding his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm. Well, they are a set of identical wedding bands that have been in the family since… oh, since we’ve been the Graham de Vanily’s, I think. But the legend is old- it could easily predate that name. The legend says that a long ago ancestor saw a falling star and wished to be reunited with his true love. Personally, I can’t decide whether this next part was overly-optimistic foolishness or a calculated risk, but this ancestor went hunting for the fallen star, convinced that if he found it, he would get his wish granted. He did end up finding a meteorite- though of course it’s extremely unlikely it was the ‘star’ that </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> wished on- in a small crater surrounded by burned vegetation. Naturally he thought his wish had been granted, and he took the rock to a blacksmith to be melted down.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Somewhat surprisingly, given the available methods of smelting at that time, the blacksmith succeeded in melting down the platinum the meteorite was made of, and refined the metal enough that a jeweler could mill the rings from the resulting ingot. That’s why they’re called the Twin Rings, by the way. Melting the metal and using a mold wouldn’t have created the same kind of identical look and feel that they have. Anyway, the next time my ancestor saw his lost love he proposed and she accepted. I can only assume circumstances had changed enough by that time that she was free to do so, though the legend plays up the influence of the rings, of course. The legend says they lived together happily enough and passed the rings on to their eldest son when it was his turn to get married, and he and his wife also enjoyed remarkable happiness for their time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix paused and took a sip. “And so it goes, down through the generations. Each time the rings are used, the couple is said to live happily ever after. Those who spurned the rings and chose to use another set… those relationships end badly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien frowned. “Where are you going with this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sighed. “Aunt Emilie was the oldest by ten minutes. She got the rings when Gabriel proposed. I understand he was quite enthusiastic about the legend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s frown deepened. He had a hard time imagining Gabriel believing a legend like that, much less being enthusiastic about it. Sometimes it seemed like he never got excited about anything. “Are you saying I should ask for mother and father’s wedding rings when I finally propose?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sighed again, slowly turning his empty mug on the counter. “No, Adrien, I’m saying that I want the rings back. It’s time for a new generation to receive the blessing.” He shifted, rolling his shoulders. He glanced up and saw Adrien’s dumbfounded expression. “It’s not that surprising, is it? The rings have always been in the Graham de Vanily family; </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> am a Graham de Vanily. Besides, it’s not as if </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> need help keeping the people around you happy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien choked on a sip of his own tea. He coughed once or twice, clearing his throat. “Excuse me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix rolled his eyes. “Really, Adrien, you have to know that people go out of their way to try and make you happy. I’m not proud of what I did all those years ago, but I was hurting, and… it was infuriating how quickly and easily you made friends who seemed to genuinely care about you, when I </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> how much Uncle Gabriel controlled your life.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Myself, on the other hand? I’ve never made friends easily, and the ones I do have are more like close acquaintances. We meet for drinks on occasion and invite each other to dinner, but it’s more of a social obligation than true affection. The only person I’ve been able to connect with on more than a superficial level is my fiance.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pursed his lips and looked away. “The fact is, I’m afraid I’ll mess it up and she’ll leave. I need those rings- I want a happily ever after for myself and my future wife, and- forgive me- but it’s not as if Uncle Gabriel needs them anymore.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You should go into politics,” Adrien deadpanned. “Tact like that is a rare thing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix just shrugged- apology and deflection at the same time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien blew out a breath. Several thoughts ran through his mind, among which were </span>
  <em>
    <span>Have you considered not being a douche</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>For someone so dismissive of this legend, you sure believe in it pretty hard.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still, he tried to put his feelings for his cousin aside, and consider what he’d said. Despite Felix’s dismissal of the legend itself, Adrien knew first hand that magical jewelry really did exist. Perhaps these Twin Rings actually had some means of making people happier with each other- perhaps by fostering concern with the other’s welfare or something. He doubted that they were Miraculouses, though- he couldn’t think of any kwami willing, or even able, to spread their essence and power between two different people at once. But that brought up another interesting point- one that made his heart clench.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid your little trip was for nothing,” he said, pushing aside that old heartache. “Father only has one of the rings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I know,” Felix said, seemingly unconcerned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you need both…?” Adrien prompted, eyes narrowed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course I need both,” Felix replied. “Why do you think I’m here? I already have the other.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien shot up from his stool, suddenly lightheaded. “You… what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix barely kept his mouth from dropping open as Adrien actually paled. He’d never actually seen that reaction before- read it many times, heard people refer to other people going pale at shocking news, but he’d never seen it for himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It surprised him. He’d assumed that Adrien was only keeping up the ‘mother is missing’ facade because it was what Gabriel wanted, and it was one of the reasons he’d secretly despised Adrien for years. Who goes around pretending they don’t know full and well their parent left of their own free will? Just get to sympathy, or to please the other, more obnoxious parent? Pathetic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But if Adrien’s reaction- he swayed backward with a blank face, only barely catching himself on the stool he’d been sitting on- was genuine, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> due to the knowledge that Felix had something in his possession that Adrien thought safely put away, then…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien,” he said, without his usual dismissive tone. “When we came to Paris that one time, it was because my mother wanted the rings back. Rings </span>
  <em>
    <span>plural</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She knew that Uncle Gabriel had both of them- or at least I assume she did, because that’s why we came.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… oh, god.” Adrien buried his hands in his hair, clutching at the strands as if to rip them out. He took several deep breaths, then sat up, grabbing the edge of the countertop to brace himself. “Fa-... he would never answer any questions about Mother. Not for me, not for anyone. S-sometimes he would tell me… he’d say that she’d come back to us one day.” He swallowed convulsively, and then seemed to relax all at once. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Adrien looked at Felix next, it was like the sunshine boy everyone raved about in the media was gone, and here was a man who had set aside his emotions and was ready to talk business. On the whole, while Felix felt a slight twinge of guilt over how and why that had happened, he wasn’t displeased with the results. Adrien was an emotional creature, and right now, even though he was suppressing it, he was angry. Specifically, angry with his </span>
  <em>
    <span>father.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Felix stood up and turned slightly away from his cousin, looking across the small sitting area that served as a living room toward the half-shaded windows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you knew Father had both of the rings, why not just ask him for them? Why come to me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We did ask Uncle Gabriel for the rings- several years ago. He refused to part with them. I can only imagine he thought that if he kept possession, their charm would work on your mother, wherever she was, and she would eventually come back.” He shrugged slightly. “That’s conjecture, no more. I was a child, and obviously Uncle Gabriel wouldn’t have confided in me, if he didn’t confide in you, and my mother never said anything about it. But I knew mother wanted those rings, and to me it was obvious why Aunt Emilie left in the first place, so… when we shook hands that last time, I slipped the ring he was wearing off his finger.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix smirked at the memory. “He never even noticed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien had shoved all the anger, grief, and betrayal into a small, dark corner of his brain, but at Felix’ words, a memory leaped to the forefront of his mind. A memory of a younger Felix offering his father a handshake as they were about to leave. He shook his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow. Just… wow. Felix, what on earth made you think that stealing a wedding ring from my father, on the first anniversary of mother’s dis-” Adrien almost choked on the word ‘disappearance,’ and quickly changed it to something else. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“-absence</span>
  </em>
  <span>, was a good idea, even as a fifteen year old?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix shrugged. “It was an opportunity, and one I didn’t think would come again very soon. Honestly, at the time I thought he was refusing just to be difficult and to get his own way. It wasn’t until I thought about it a little more that I came up with my theory for why he wanted to keep them.” He shrugged again. “I’m good at sleight of hand, pickpocketing, and other forms of stage magic. I figured the worst he could do would be to ban me from the house and, as I live in England and that was my first visit to you in some years, it really wouldn’t be that much of a hardship, whether I succeeded or failed. The risk was minimal and the reward was great. I got half of what my mother wanted.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien clenched his fists, trying to control the anger threatening to break free. “Stage magic? You mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>theft!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> He took a deep, steadying breath. “Whether my mother left of her own free will or not, my father and I were still hurting. You shouldn’t steal at all, but you definitely shouldn’t have stolen Father’s</span>
  <em>
    <span> wedding ring</span>
  </em>
  <span> on the day of that anniversary! ”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix had the grace to hang his head, but lifted it again after a moment. “I can at least admit to not foreseeing all the repercussions of my actions. It’s made it impossible for me to approach him myself, for instance. But I don’t regret the theft itself. These rings belong to me and </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> family, not yours.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien got up and walked around him into the small sitting area in front of the tv, pressing his tongue up against his teeth and trying to get himself under control. The last thing he needed was a visit from one of Hawkmoth’s little butterflies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what do you want from me, then?” he bit out after a moment, hoping his incorrigible cousin would surprise him with a reasonable answer instead of the one he dreaded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to help me steal the other ring, of course.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It occurred to me that the fact that Amelie states she wants the rings back in the episode "Felix," means that she likely either knows or suspects that Emilie isn't actually missing. It would make sense for Felix to take that information and jump to conclusions with it. Especially since Gabriel is still seen wearing a wedding band after Felix stole the first one.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Felix continues to try and convince Adrien, and Chat asks Ladybug's opinion- minus specifics.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely not,” Adrien replied. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix was surprised by his steely tone. He’d expected some resistance, yes, but not this blatant refusal, especially not since he was fairly certain Adrien was currently angry with Gabriel. He looked at his cousin anew, trying to discover what it was that had made him grow a spine. He remembered younger Adrien being all too eager to please, willing to be trodden on and taken advantage of. He’d even sacrificed </span>
  <em>
    <span>himself</span>
  </em>
  <span> when that long-ago trio of akumas had come looking for </span>
  <em>
    <span>Felix.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Their infrequent voice and face chats over the years had not done much to dispel that image. Of course, Felix’ previous opinion had been largely colored by his assumption that Adrien </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> Aunt Emilie’s “disappearance” was a polite fiction. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But there was certainly no compromise in his expression now. Felix rubbed his eyes, not entirely sure how to proceed. Perhaps a direct query? Couldn’t hurt, he decided.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, is this a thought out, moral objection… or simply a gut-reaction because you are angry right now? Do you truly think Uncle Gabriel deserves to keep something that ultimately does not belong to him, when he kept you in the dark about your mother for years, and was probably the reason she left in the first place? Do you not agree that I have rights to the ring?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah- a hit. Felix could see it in the way Adrien suddenly looked past him rather than at him. He was wavering.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If it makes you feel better, Uncle Gabriel won’t even know it’s gone. I had a copy made- excellent workmanship of course. He won’t know the difference.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien crossed his arms and stared at the carpet. Felix waited, sensing that if he pushed too hard, Adrien would draw back again. Finally he spoke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have only your word that Father had or still has Mother’s wedding ring,” he said, bitterness lacing every syllable. “As far as I can tell, Father’s wedding band has never been off his finger, so why should I believe any of this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can show you the ring I took, of course, but I can’t imagine that Uncle Gabriel would have let you examine his own in minute detail, so that’s less than helpful.” Felix sighed. “You could call my mother, but I don’t know if you’d believe her, either.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The rings, though- they’re documented? There are pictures and articles about them? Is their legend written down anywhere?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded, seeing where his cousin was going with this. “Yes. I’m not sure how much is actually out there, but there should be something at any rate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien nodded, slowly. Then he put one hand on his hip and raked the other through his hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, look. I’m angry and frustrated, and I don’t know what to think. I’m going to need some time to process this and come to a decision.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded again, putting his hands up. “I understand. This… would be a lot to take in.” He paused before adding. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. All these years I assumed you knew about… about your mother, and were just playing to the crowd. I won’t deny that I secretly despised both you and Uncle Gabriel for that… but I was wrong about you, at least, and I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien nodded and closed his eyes again, biting his lip. He heard Felix let himself out, and then collapsed onto the couch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once Felix was gone, Adrien felt Plagg leave his pocket. </span>
  <em>
    <span>No doubt looking for cheese,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought. But to his great astonishment, Plagg actually spoke up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien? Are you okay?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It surprised him enough that he sat up and stared at the kwami. Plagg wasn’t the kind who comforted or put up with wallowing or mush, but there had been times over the years when he’d shown Adrien true care and appreciation. But most of the time, if he felt Adrien needed support, he would distract him somehow- whining </span>
  <em>
    <span>or</span>
  </em>
  <span> gushing about cheese, or playing some kind of prank on him. And Adrien was fine with that- it was the way Plagg was and he never wanted the little kwami to act in a way he wasn’t comfortable with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Plagg, I… I don’t know,” he finally said, his hands dropping limply into his lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg zipped uncertainly back and forth in front of him, like he couldn’t decide what to do, what to say. Adrien sympathized. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If…” His tongue felt heavy all of a sudden, filling his mouth and impossible to move. He could think it, but he couldn’t say it out loud. Because if Felix was right, then… He shook his head mutely. After a moment, he groped for his phone and keys, scraping a hand down his face in an effort to wake himself from the stupor that was threatening to overcome him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last thing he wanted was for Marinette, Tom, or Sabine to come up and find him like this. Usually he loved the fact that they were always attentive to him, responsive to his moods and feelings, and would ask him and </span>
  <em>
    <span>pry</span>
  </em>
  <span> if they thought there was something wrong. But right now… he just wanted to be left alone. He couldn’t talk about it yet, and even though he knew that they would respect his silence if he asked them to, they would also be hurt and worried by it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And since he loved Marinette, he couldn’t burden her with this until he’d gotten some kind of grip on it himself. He started up the steps toward Marinette’s attic bedroom and the skylight that would allow him to transform and leap away unseen... but then he remembered that Sabine knew he was there. With a sigh, he turned back to the apartment door. He would need to at least let Sabine or Tom know he was leaving, it was the polite thing to do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He caught sight of the fridge on his way to the door, and remembered the fruit tart. Marinette would have to eat it by herself. He sighed heavily, and got out some sticky notes so he could let her know it was for her. He put some effort into making the note cheerful enough she wouldn’t be too suspicious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then he took a deep breath and straightened his posture, relaxed his facial muscles, and put on his “I’m in public and may be photographed” smile. Hopefully there would be another rush in the bakery and Sabine and Tom would be too busy to notice that it was one of his fake ones.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette was surprised when Tikki buzzed twice in her purse as she was leaving </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gabriel</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She pulled her phone out to check it- no akuma alerts. It was a little early in the day for Chat Noir to try calling her unless there was an akuma, but she ducked into the metro bathroom long enough to transform and listen to his message. To her concern, he sounded like he’d been crying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Bugaboo… um. I know we don’t have patrol tonight, but... can we meet up anyway? There’s something I need to talk to you about. Maybe get some advice? No specifics of course, but… I really need my best friend right now. Anyway. Call me back to confirm, please. I… please don’t leave me hanging tonight. Either call to confirm or call to let me know you won’t be coming. Thanks.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She quickly typed a message to him and sent it, then sighed. She’d planned to cook a nice dinner for Adrien tonight, now that all the photoshoots were done. They’d both been so busy with the Fall/Winter catalogue they’d barely had time to see each other. She felt horrible for taking even more time away from him… but her partner needed her, and she wasn’t going to let him down. Not even for her boyfriend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She detransformed, handing Tikki a cookie purloined from the break room. They weren’t as good as her parents’ cookies of course, but sometimes she forgot to grab some, and sometimes they got smashed being stuck in her purse all day long. So, sometimes Tikki got inferior cookies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time she made it home, she was ready to fling her heels from the top of the Eiffel Tower. She wouldn't, but she wanted to. They were fabulous- something she’d bartered for with a fellow designer- but after a whole day of standing around in them and half-running in them to keep up with the fast pace required by this project, her feet </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was hoping to see Adrien sprawled on her parents’ couch, maybe share a pastry with him before dinner, since she wouldn’t have time to cook for him now. Fortunately, her parents were always prepared for extra guests, and their regular meal would be tasty as always.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien wasn’t there, though. There was a sticky-note on the trapdoor leading to her room, so she went up and grabbed it, reading it as she stepped out of her shoes and started shucking her work attire. She quickly realized it was three sticky notes stuck together and covered with writing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I was here earlier, and I meant to wait for you, but I had to go. I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow if I can but--&gt; don’t tell anyone, but my cousin Felix is back in town. He asked me to help him with something. I don’t know if I will yet- it’s not--&gt; it’s complicated. I need to think about it, so I left. I remembered you, though- there’s a fruit tart in the fridge with your name on it. I love you. - Adrien &lt;3</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette smiled at his thoughtfulness, threw on a pair of sweats, and went back down to eat her fruit tart. She was concerned about his cousin’s sudden entrance back into their lives, though. The first time she’d met Felix, it had not gone well. Of course, she hadn’t exactly met him as Marinette, but he’d impersonated Adrien, tried to ruin his friendships, and then tried to assault Ladybug. She’d punched him, of course, but even after that, the little snake was willing to help out Hawkmoth in return for something that </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> wanted. That was not something she was going to be quick to forgive, not to mention being an absolutely, definitively bad first impression. If he was willing to do something like that when he was fifteen</span>
  <em>
    <span>,</span>
  </em>
  <span> what would he be willing to do now that he was older?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As for asking Adrien to help him... if Adrien wasn’t sure about it? To her, that practically </span>
  <em>
    <span>screamed</span>
  </em>
  <span> ‘Don’t do it!’ Adrien loved helping his friends, he loved the feeling of being useful and valued for more than just his looks. If he was hesitating on this, that probably meant there was something more than a little shady about it. Which, given that it was Felix...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette chewed on her lip, a bite of tart suspended on her fork as she thought. Should she get involved?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On one hand, Adrien had neither told her what Felix wanted, nor asked for her help or opinion. So it was probably something he didn’t want her involved in, or even knowing about. And the more she thought of it, it didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be a bad thing... It could be something that was embarrassing, or something that took Adrien out of his comfort zone somehow. Although, after being homeschooled for most of his childhood, his ‘comfort zone’ was pretty broad. He was willing and eager to try just about anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe Felix wanted him to… what? Try as she might, the only scenarios she could come up with were overthrowing Gabriel and taking over the company by force… or… her mind went blank. She just didn’t know enough about Felix to know what he was likely to ask for help with. Maybe he wanted to get in touch with his emotional side? Start a new business entirely independent from their parents’ umbrella?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rolling her eyes at herself, Marinette first snorted, then finally ate her bite of fruit tart and sternly told herself to stop catastrophizing. She’d been working on that ever since she’d become the Guardian at much too young an age (in </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> opinion- the Tibetan monks who made up the restored Order hadn’t thought so when they completed her training, but then they were, mentally, still 200 years out of date). While thinking up worst case scenarios was a good instinct in a Guardian, she also had to be able to plan how to counter those things and then let them go so she could tackle more immediate problems with the proper focus. Regular deep breathing and meditation had helped a lot in that respect.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she took the time to make a few plans on how to counter Felix if he should attempt any shenanigans on her or Adrien, texted Adrien to let him know she’d gotten his note and that she would be there when he was ready to talk, and relaxed for the rest of the evening until it was time to meet Chat for “patrol.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir paced anxiously. Ladybug hadn’t called, but she </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> texted him, and she </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> coming. That was good. That was really good. He really needed some advice, and Ladybug was the first one to pop into his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His hurt over the continuous lie his Father was living day in and day out had mostly faded to a dull ache, but it still spiked randomly. He was used to Father disappointing him and leaving him out of the loop by now, but he still hated it. Gabriel had usually gotten angry whenever Adrien tried to hint that it would be alright with him if he wanted to move on, but he’d never said anything that would have made Adrien think he knew where Emilie was, and that she was alright. He’d always insisted that they would find her one day, and she would come back. Adrien didn’t know if that was delusion, or something deeper. Either way, it wasn’t a healthy way to live. His mother had been gone for more than ten years. People who did that just didn’t come back. Glumly he realized that she might not even be alive anymore- killed in some accident, and no word sent back because no one knew who she really was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried not to think about Emilie leaving on her own, because that... still hurt. He’d wondered, of course, early on. Wondered whether it was something </span>
  <em>
    <span>he’d</span>
  </em>
  <span> done, whether </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> just wasn’t good enough… and so she’d left. But gaining friends and new experiences had helped to suppress that thought. He’d also read some psychology books- on Plagg’s recommendation, since “I don’t do all that mushy stuff, and Sugarcube’s not here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The books all said that when a parent left, it was due entirely to things in the parent’s life other than the child. Whether it was addiction, or a longing for a different life, or illness of one kind or another, it was never the </span>
  <em>
    <span>child’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> fault. When a parent left and made no attempt to keep in contact, that was on the parent and only the parent.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So while it </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Adrien had somewhat already dealt with that pain. It was sharp only because he now had </span>
  <em>
    <span>proof</span>
  </em>
  <span> that his mother had abandoned him. Whether it was his fault or not didn’t matter- knowing that he really had been abandoned stung.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, that was assuming that Felix was telling the truth. And that was another worry. What if Felix was actually lying? Clearly he wanted </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> from Gabriel, but that didn’t mean the rings were the actual goal. It could be a distraction ploy, something to keep attention away from the real thing Felix was after. His aim could even just be tarnishing Adrien’s image in such a way that Gabriel would never trust him again. After all, how much trust could you put in a son whom you caught trying to steal </span>
  <em>
    <span>your wedding band?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It bothered Adrien that he could think like this. Generally, he tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, assume the best of them, and encourage them to live up to their potential as decent human beings. But his father had steadily eroded that innate trust in others over the years, until there were things he just… cynically accepted. And with Felix… he’d been burned that one time, and even though he’d forgiven his cousin, he had never forgotten it. It was why he hadn’t tried harder to have a good relationship with him after his attempts to be closer were rebuffed two or three times.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Felix really had assumed that Adrien </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> Emilie hadn’t ‘disappeared,’ it would help to explain why he’d remained so aloof. He’d even said as much himself. But again, that could be a ploy- just words meant to make him more trusting and more willing to help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat started to bury his hands in his hair again, caught himself, then deliberately ruffled his own hair into even more of a mess than it usually was as Chat Noir to keep himself from pulling on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Feeling a little more feral tonight, Chat?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat whirled, simultaneously relieved Ladybug had arrived and worried that he’d been so caught up in his own mental state that he hadn’t noticed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh,” he laughed, trying to think of a joke, or pun, or some way to pass it off, but after a moment he raised his hands in a half-shrug and then let them drop. “I’m a little… all over the place at the moment, Ladybug.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised her eyebrows at him and then frowned in concern. “To be honest, I was hoping your message was you being your usual dramatic self, but I can see that that’s not the case now. Come on, let’s sit down over here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Chat said, sighing as he sat down. Now that his partner was here, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Ladybug always had a plan, always knew what to do to win the day. And at the moment he very much felt like the day needed saving.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And thank you for coming, even though… well. I’ll do my best to keep things vague, but- this really concerns my civilian self a lot, and… Ladybug I </span>
  <em>
    <span>need</span>
  </em>
  <span> your opinion on this. I’m so confused, I don’t know what to do, or who to believe-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop,” Ladybug interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, kitty. Tell me what you can and I’ll… I don’t know. I don’t even know what the problem is yet, so… go ahead.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Chat said, taking a deep breath, and making mental edits to what he was going to say. “So. Someone came to see me, um, recently. And it’s someone who is… connected to me. A cousin of mine.” Surely that wasn’t too revealing, right? Most everyone had cousins, this shouldn’t give away his identity. “Now, this cousin, he’s… a bit odd.” Chat suddenly snorted. “I actually used to think we were somehow switched at birth, because he’s a lot like my old man, and I’m really… not. And we used to look a lot alike. Anyway, he wants me to help him with something.” He took another breath. “Apparently, there’s this family heirloom, and it’s always passed down to the eldest child in his- my cousin’s- family. My mother was that child in her generation, and he is that child in ours. Anyway, he’s getting married, and he wants to have it for the wedding. But…” Chat bit his lips. “My father isn’t likely to give it up. He… really likes it, it’s very important to him. But my mother… she’s not… she’s not around any more-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had to stop and put a fist to his mouth, closing his eyes on tears. He sniffed deeply. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why it’s affecting me this much, it usually doesn’t.” Another sniff. “It’s been </span>
  <em>
    <span>years.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Not that that made much difference to his emotions at the moment, curse it all. He blinked harder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, kitty.” Ladybug gave him a side hug, leaning her head against his shoulder in the platonically-supportive way she always had. She rubbed his arm a few times, waiting until he had composed himself again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anyway… this cousin wants me to help him steal it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug jerked upright. “Whaaat?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat nodded. “I know. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Believe</span>
  </em>
  <span> me, I know. And I don’t know what to do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug frowned at him. “Chat, you can’t go around </span>
  <em>
    <span>stealing things.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’m a little concerned that I have to remind you of that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know. But-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No buts!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ladybug, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> a right to it! It’s tradition that the… things… get passed on when the eldest child gets married.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So let him sue! I’m sure he’d have an excellent case in civil court.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat shook his head, getting frustrated. “It would take too long. And I know my father. He’d hide the thing before the verdict could be handed down, what with all the lawyers going back and forth and taking up time and money…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Chat, this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>not your problem.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ladybug insisted. Then she sighed. “I’m sorry. I really am. Family drama is never fun, and… well, you’ve let enough slip over the years that I know your’s is pretty much ongoing. But you </span>
  <em>
    <span>cannot</span>
  </em>
  <span> lend yourself to this. It’s not right.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat sighed. Deep down he knew she was right. “I know. It’s just… it’s not all. See, the heirloom, it’s… they’re kind of a pair of symbols. They’re supposed to bring good luck to the marriage, make the couple happier, you know? And all this time, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>assumed</span>
  </em>
  <span>…” He groaned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look, this is getting really personal, but please just… listen, alright? My mom. Mother, she… she kind of went missing. A while ago. And there were searches and an investigation and everything. Father always said we’d find her one day, that she’d be back with us. And the symbol… </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> symbol… he always had it near him, where he could see it if he just looked up. I thought the other one had gone missing with her. But my cousin, he says that he already stole one of the symbols, years ago. Which means…” he started tearing up again, “which means… she most likely just </span>
  <em>
    <span>left,</span>
  </em>
  <span> leaving her symbol behind… and when my cousin stole one of them, my father just put the other in </span>
  <em>
    <span>its</span>
  </em>
  <span> place and… my father has been </span>
  <em>
    <span>lying</span>
  </em>
  <span> to me this whole time.” The last few words came out more as gasps than speech.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The whirr of Ladybug’s yo-yo jolted him back to a sense of where and </span>
  <em>
    <span>who</span>
  </em>
  <span> he was at that moment. The familiar snap as it shut around something- probably an akuma- was like a pail of ice water dumped over his head. Stunned, he hastily wiped the tears from his eyes and clambered to his feet, a little less gracefully than normal. But he grabbed the baton from his back and tried to get his head in the game, activating his night vision and scanning their surroundings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until his gaze landed on Ladybug- in muted greys due to his night vision- staring thoughtfully and a little sadly at her own yo-yo that he realized she hadn’t released the purified butterfly yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“LB?” he asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, kitty,” Ladybug said. She looked right at him, and he could see both tears and fierce determination in her eyes, despite the night-vision. “You go ahead and cry all you want. And don’t you dare worry about getting akumatized, because </span>
  <em>
    <span>I won’t let that happen.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And just like that, all the fight went out of him, and he collapsed to the roof again. Ladybug came over and stood with one hand on his shoulder, occasionally combing through his hair as he sobbed… and she kept watch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen, Chat,” Ladybug said gently, when her partner had finally cried himself out. He was currently snuggled up under her arm- which wasn’t really comfortable for either of them due to his height, but it was better than having his head in her lap and they both knew it. “I know you’re hurt and confused right now, but you can’t let that affect your decision making. This cousin- he already admitted to stealing one of the symbols, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat nodded mutely. His hair tickled her chin, and she tried not to flinch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, if he admitted to that, then I already don’t trust him.” She looked down at him. “Do you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat sighed. “No, not really.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then, can you come up with any reason to believe his word over your father’s?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat stayed silent a moment before saying, a little thickly, “I haven’t really had a chance to investigate what he said. This all happened today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you believe him enough to look into it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat nodded again. Ladybug sighed. “Sometimes having to keep so many things secret is really annoying,” she said to the night air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tea, but pretty weak tea, Ladybug. Come on, I know you can do better than that,” Chat said, and they both chuckled weakly before falling quiet for another little while. Ladybug broke it by asking, “Have you talked to Plagg about this at all?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat shook his head. “Not really. He knows- obviously he was there with me when… my cousin asked me. But I think I know what he’d say.” Chat sighed again. “He’s never been a fan of my father, and he’s offered to cataclysm both of them for me before-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug snorted and tried to pass it off as a sneeze. Chat stifled a laugh himself and sat up, ducking out from under her arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In this case, I think Plagg would be all for stealing the… symbol. Apparently my cousin had a copy made that he thinks will fool my father.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s my family, Ladybug,” Chat said then, quietly. “They both are, and while I have no hopes for my father, my cousin... he’s actually reaching out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug could hear the longing in his voice. She knew he didn’t have many people he felt close to, could rely on, especially in his own family- which, as far as she could tell, seemed to be full of truly awful human beings. She’d been so glad when he told her he was finally moving out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You still can’t steal for him, Chat. That would just make you a criminal. And for all you know, he intends you to be the fall guy and take the blame while he goes and gets married and lives his life. That wouldn't be fair. He’s the one who wants it- let </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> deal with the problem.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She felt Chat sigh, more than hearing it, but eventually he nodded.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>... People sigh a lot in this fic. I think I removed at least fifteen of them.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Adrien delicately probes. Gabriel flinches. Felix connects a few dots.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry it's been longer for this update. There were some irl things I'd been neglecting and needed to take care of. Hopefully the next chapter won't be another longer wait!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Eventually, after going back to his apartment and spending a restless night tossing and turning, Adrien decided that he couldn’t make a decision anything until he knew more. Finding out whether Gabriel really did know where Emilie had gone, or that she was still alive, was one of his top priorities. He could bring up the rings at their weekly dinner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So that night he made sure to dress as close to his father’s standards as he could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Father was there anything special about your and Mother’s wedding bands? Any particular reason why you picked them?” Adrien asked, as casually as he could, at the weekly dinner with Gabriel. Oddly enough, now that he wasn’t living at home, Gabriel was far more likely to actually show up. Not that they ever talked much, but Adrien figured asking in a casual setting like this was better than trying to find time in his father’s otherwise busy schedule. After all, he wasn’t really planning to propose anytime soon, and setting a meeting with his father would make it seem too important.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To his surprise, he heard the clatter of silverware as his father actually dropped his fork. Adrien looked up, staring incredulously at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel glared down at the fork in accusation, as if it were all the fork’s fault that he’d dropped it. Then he transferred that glare to Adrien.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is neither the time, nor the place, Adrien,” Gabriel said, picking up the fork again, and hoping that he could once again quell any rising curiosity about Emilie. But it seemed those days were over. True, Adrien did wilt for a moment, but it was a short moment, and then he sat up straighter, set his jaw, and stared right back with a certain amount of fire in his eyes. It was a good look for him, part of Gabriel’s brain mused, even as the other 90% scrambled to find a way, any way, to counter this line of questioning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Adrien said, then looked pointedly over Gabriel’s shoulder. “Nathalie, would you please pencil me in at 2 pm tomorrow? I’ll need a full hour, at least.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel raised a hand, letting Nathalie know not to follow Adrien’s polite- yet threatening- request. He sighed, using the same hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He’d really hoped to avoid this conversation- and where it might lead- indefinitely. Or at least until he could acquire the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, and then of course, it wouldn’t matter anymore, because...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do you want to know?” he asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien shot him a suspicious look, but then shrugged. “I’m thinking of proposing to Marinette next summer. We’re both old enough, and with me doing less and less modeling, and her closer to achieving her goals, there’s no reason that I can think of to delay any further. We’ve talked about it a lot, and neither of us want to actually get married until after we graduate, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a long engagement.” He took another bite and chewed before continuing. “I just wanted to know if you chose your rings because they meant something to you, or just because they looked nice and were your style. They were a matching pair, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel was taken aback. He’d known about the relationship, of course, and at one time he might have tried to use it to akumatize the young lady- who would surely have made for his most effective akuma yet. But… somehow he just hadn’t gotten around to it. And now it had been what… a year? Two?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t aware you were so serious about Ms. Dupain-Cheng,” he said, trying once again to deflect. As before, it didn’t work. He really wished he could have convinced Adrien to stay here at the mansion, instead of moving into that bohemian abode he shared with his two ‘friends.’ Adrien had been much more pliant to his will when he lived under his roof.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien stared at him for a few minutes before coming right out and asking, “Why don’t you want to answer my questions? Why do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> answer my questions when it’s related to Mother in any way, at all?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel had a suitable answer almost ready when Adrien shook his head a little and held up his hand. “Never mind, Father. I don’t know what I expected... I’m sure I can pick out wedding rings perfectly well on my own. I apologize for interrupting the meal with unnecessary conversation.” His tone was perfectly polite, with no sarcastic overtones. He took another bite of his meal, chewing slowly while staring at one of the paintings on the wall that Gabriel himself hadn’t really looked at for years. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel swallowed and took a sip of water, trying to steady himself. He hadn’t been aware… hadn’t known the extent to which he’d pushed Adrien away. Of course, in the back of his mind had always been the knowledge that he should be more present in Adrien’s life, but what with running his own company </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> trying to revive his wife… there just had never seemed to be any time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But now, hearing Adrien openly state his belief that Gabriel had no interest in simply talking to him, answering his questions, or (this was implied) in the milestones he was meeting in life… that stung like nothing had before. For the first time in years, Gabriel allowed the butterfly Miraculous to convey his own son’s emotions to him… and that was yet another blow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien was an emotional creature, much like his mother. Gabriel knew this- it was why he’d walled his son off from the miraculous a long time ago. But now… now he knew that Adrien was hurt, but only shallowly. His strongest emotions lay buried, but what was on top was bad enough: disappointment, resignation, and self-derision. The butterfly didn’t grant the ability to read minds, yet Gabriel had had enough years with it that he was able to guess what the thoughts behind certain emotions must be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The rings we used were heirlooms,” Gabriel found himself almost blurting out. Adrien blinked at him, pausing mid-chew. “A set of perfectly matched rings, identical in every way. They’ve been in the Graham de Vanily family for a long time, passed down from one eldest child to the next on their wedding day.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Adrien said. He remained quiet for another few bites, then said softly. “I feel sorry for Felix, then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel found himself honestly curious. “Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’ll be the first generation who won’t have the option to use the rings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel frowned. “I’m certainly not going to give up my wedding band, no.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” Adrien asked innocently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Firstly, Felix is not someone I would willing give anything of value, and secondly… there is a legend attached to the rings. It’s said that if they are worn as wedding bands, the couple in question will end up happy in life.” Gabriel didn’t sigh, but he did pause. “Perhaps it is foolish and sentimental of me, but I can’t help thinking that if I keep wearing it, your mother will one day return to us.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien winced, and Gabriel looked at him sharply. But then he put one hand up to his cheek, grimacing, and Gabriel relaxed again. Just a bitten cheek.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know that,” Adrien said. “I’m not sure how true that could be, but… well, we do live in a world with Ladybug and Chat Noir. We know magical jewelry exists, so… why not? But what I actually meant to say before is… Mother’s ring is missing. I know she was wearing it the day before she disappeared. Even if you were willing to give up your ring to Felix, in the end he wouldn’t have both of them.” He took another bite and chewed it before ending with. “It’s a shame such a tradition is going to be upended because of something beyond everyone’s control.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien went on eating, a pensive frown on his face, unaware of the cold which had invaded his father’s chest. Gabriel thought back to that first anniversary, when Amelie and Felix had come so unexpectedly to visit. Amelie had been convinced he had both of the rings- that Emilie had left him, ‘for obvious reasons,’ as Amelie had put it to him in the privacy of his atelier. That was why she was so insistent on having the rings back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And that day, he had lost his. Or well... Felix had stolen it. At the time, Gabriel had been more concerned with hiding the theft- it would look odd if he was suddenly seen without his wedding band, people would </span>
  <em>
    <span>assume</span>
  </em>
  <span> things- so he’d started wearing Emilie’s ring. Now he realized that if Felix- and possibly his sister-in-law- had been paying any attention to him at all, they would know that even though Felix had stolen </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> ring, he was still wearing an identical one. The fact that he’d had both rings all along, when he’d sworn he only had the one, would be glaringly obvious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien called his attention back to the present with another innocently cruel comment. “Do we have a similar tradition? Would it mean anything to you if I offered Marinette one of Mother’s rings?” He smiled, his expression softening. “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>like</span>
  </em>
  <span> the thought of that. It would be a way to honor her.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel felt sick. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She should be here,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Our son is getting engaged, and… Emilie, I’m so sorry I haven’t won yet.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Remorse mingled with renewed determination and coursed through him in a veritable flood. Desperately, he focused on his Miraculous, hoping someone, somewhere in the great city of Paris was feeling even half the anguish he was currently experiencing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien watched his father’s reactions without seeming to as he delicately probed for information. Gabriel was not the kind to give away much, but Adrien had learned his body language over the years, and he knew from his posture and the stiff way he was moving that he’d dealt his father a blow. The frustrating thing was that he didn’t know if it was due to him bringing up the Twin Rings, or because he’d mentioned his mother.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At least he now knew that Gabriel had no intention of giving up his half of the set, whether Felix actually had the other one or not, which meant simply asking him for it on Felix’ behalf was off the table. That… didn’t leave him a whole lot of acceptable options.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was just about to ask why he thought so poorly of Felix- because he had a right to be curious about his father’s opinion of his cousin, right?- when Gabriel suddenly stood up, looking pale.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… need to go. I’m sorry, Adrien, this is… unfortunate timing, but I do not believe the duck is agreeing with me.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his ascot a little. Adrien started to stand- he really did look sick- but Gabriel waved him down. “Nathalie, please have the cook lose whatever recipe he used for the duck. Adrien, I must apologize. Excuse me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that, he strode quickly out of the room. Nathalie stood looking after him, before throwing a questioning glance towards Adrien. He nodded toward the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go on. He’s hopeless without you- he probably can’t even be sick without asking you to slot it into his schedule,” he joked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It fell flat, Nathalie simply staring at him with her usual non-expression. Not that he really expected anything less. Then she nodded sharply to him and followed after Gabriel. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just like she always had. Just like she always would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Adrien was left to finish his meal alone. It was very difficult not to think that this was also something that would never change.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>At least,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Chat Noir thought, as he once again vaulted out of his bedroom window- where he had ‘taken shelter’ when the akuma alert had gone off- </span>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t have to sit there and pretend to enjoy a meal in solitary silence anymore.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He probably would have just left after being left alone, but the akuma alert had gone off only a few minutes after his father and Nathalie had left the room. Chat met up with Ladybug near the Louvre, and since this akuma was relatively straightforward, it didn’t take them long to defeat it. Although, Chat could have sworn he saw a flicker of the butterfly symbol over the akuma’s face just before he snatched the item and threw it to his partner. He wondered what Hawkmoth could have been trying to say to his minion when it was obvious that he’d been defeated already.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah well. He gave Ladybug their customary fist-bump, and though she shot him a concerned look, she didn’t try to get him to stay and talk. Which was just as well- he needed to get back to the mansion so he could leave as Adrien. It had been some time since he’d had to do that, and he found the necessity rankled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt easier to escape from his apartment, though it should have been harder, what with having two roommates. But Nino usually went out anyway, trying to make sure Alya stayed safe, and Max was usually either at work, or too involved in some programming issue or project to even notice when the alarms went off. There was also the fact that even though he knew both of them cared about him, he didn’t feel like the world would end if either of them walked into his room during an attack and found him gone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The run back to the mansion was fast, and soon he was exiting his room and preparing to leave, half-expecting to be intercepted at the door by a disapproving Nathalie or Gorilla- like so many other times he’d tried to leave during his younger years. Neither of them appeared to stop him, though their spectres hung in his peripheral vision. He blinked to dispel them and left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sat in his car watching Adrien’s car turn out of the mansion gates and drive away, and his feelings were… mixed. He’d followed Adrien here tonight, hoping for an opportunity to slip in and place a few cameras while they were occupied with dinner, but Gabriel had tightened the security since the last time he’d visited, and he had not been able to find a discreet way in. Even so, he’d learned something he honestly had not expected to learn.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien was Chat Noir.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was the only explanation he could think of when he’d seen Chat Noir vaulting out of one of the windows of the mansion shortly after the akuma alert. After a minute of processing, Felix had checked his phone and seen that the akuma was no where close by. So he’d stayed, watching the Ladyblog and waiting to see if Chat Noir would return to the mansion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After all, there was a bare possibility that Chat Noir had simply been visiting Adrien- perhaps they were even dating! But somehow, that explanation rang false. Especially after seeing Chat return, entering through the same window he had left by. And then a few minutes later, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Adrien</span>
  </em>
  <span> walked out the front doors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Adrien was </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> the kind of idealistic, altruistic, self-sacrificing personality to positively leap at the chance of being a superhero. It also explained that long-ago obsession with Ladybug. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now Felix was torn. On the one hand, it was something he could hold over his cousin’s head to</span>
  <em>
    <span> force</span>
  </em>
  <span> him to cooperate. It would also probably make actually stealing the ring pure child’s play. But… he wasn’t sure he wanted to do that. Not now. Perhaps, before he’d known about Adrien’s ignorance when it came to his mother, he would have taken advantage of the situation with no hesitation. But now…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found himself reluctant. And he wasn’t quite sure why. He’d always prided himself on being pragmatic and logical. He approached every problem he had logically, making a plan, following through, and not worrying too much about the consequences for anyone who was only peripherally involved with his goal. Yet, since meeting Bridgette that had begun to change. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thinking of her seemed to cut through the absolute focus he’d had.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She </span>
  <em>
    <span>cared</span>
  </em>
  <span> so much. And she wasn’t afraid to tell him when he was being a dick. She’d told him that a lot when they first met, but since meeting her Felix had, purely to save his own sanity, started bending his formidable mind toward solving other people’s problems as well as his own, and in the process, discovered that not being called a dick was nice. Now that they were getting married, Felix had thought... </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He blinked as he realized he’d reverted to tunnel-vision again as soon as he’d thought of the Twin Rings. He hadn’t really thought of them in years. Before, it had been almost a life-long goal to acquire the other one… yet after meeting Bridgette, the rings had taken a backseat, and- the realization bloomed in his mind like a popular meme- only come back to his attention when Bridgette had mentioned shopping for rings. Then the old obsession reared its ugly head, and he’d made an insane plan to come to Paris and ask his might-as-well-be-estranged cousin to help him steal the other one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix let his head fall onto the top of the steering wheel. Then he sighed, started the car, and drove back to his sub-par hotel. He needed to call his fiance and confess to a few things.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I think Felix would grow less self-centered after meeting the love of his life, since you can't maintain a relationship if you only think of yourself. Bridgette fosters empathy and self-awareness in him, and I think that would change how he looks at life.</p><p>He's also a lot older, and we've already had a glimpse that he regrets not caring about others more, and envies Adrien his close friends. I think, in time, he'll be able to have close friends of his own, but he's not quite there yet with anyone but Bridgette.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>... Surprise!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Bridgette picked up on the first ring, making Felix smile to himself. She always did that, as if she had some kind of sixth sense about when he would be calling, although logic told him she probably just glanced at her phone screen and his name was the reason she picked up so quickly. He’d seen her screen her calls in just that manner when they were together, in fact. But it was nice to think that she knew when he was calling even before technology informed her of the event.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix! Honey, where are you? You just disappeared and everyone’s been asking about you, and I need your opinion on some of the details for the engagement party. Janet is all over the place about decorations and Claude is having some kind of breakdown, or early-life crisis or something, so we’ve been trying to…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix let her ramble on for a while, well used to her lightning fast conversational skills. Perhaps if she hadn’t been such a genuinely sweet person he would have found it annoying. In fact, in the beginning it </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> annoyed him… until he’d figured out that she talked a-mile-a-minute because she had so much to share. Of course, anyone with that habit thought the same, but the things that Bridgette shared actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>mattered.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It wasn’t just idle gossip, it was always geared toward helping those around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally she wound down, having caught him up to all the doings of their little social group, and how everyone was worried about him just disappearing like that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry I left without saying anything,” he said, in his usual calm manner once she was finished. “I actually called to talk to you about that. I’m afraid I’ve behaved rather badly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bridgette remained quiet while he explained everything, which was another thing he appreciated about her. Plenty of women would have immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion upon hearing those words, but Bridgette simply let him explain without interrupting. Only when he was finished did she start asking questions, and when she did, it was obvious love and worry for </span>
  <em>
    <span>him.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She did express concern over how he’d automatically reverted to his least lovable attitude when he’d remembered the Twin Rings, and she let him know that she herself neither believed in the legend, nor </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> the rings, until Gabriel himself was willing to let them go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I understand that you want them for yourself and for me,” she said. “But I honestly couldn’t care less. In fact, I’m a little insulted that you think we need magical jewelry to be happy with each other! It’s like you don’t trust me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not you,” Felix assured her. “It’s myself I don’t trust. I can all too easily see myself making a wreck of our marriage, and I don’t want that. I know I’m the weak link in our relationship.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If it bothers you that much, you need to go to counseling. Seriously, it’s not going to be the end of the world if you talk about your problems to someone who can actually offer you solutions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This wasn’t the first time Bridgette had suggested that, and though the thought of baring his soul to a complete stranger had, the first time, filled him with extreme distaste, he was slowly coming around to the idea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve said that before,” Felix said, mentally going over all his identified defects- some due to the way he was raised, and others a seemingly intrinsic part of his personality. “I’m not so sure. My problems might just cause an environmental disaster if I let them out of containment.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bridgette laughed heartily at his pathetic attempt at a joke, and Felix found himself smiling more. The tight place in his chest- the part that was physically sure she wouldn’t continue loving him without outside help- relaxed little by little as they continued to talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien sat on his bed, staring at his phone and trying to decide whether to call Felix or not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You won’t solve anything by staring at it,” Plagg commented, floating by with a wedge of camembert.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you think?” Adrien asked, reflexively. As he’d told Ladybug, he was pretty sure he already knew, but he hadn’t actually asked Plagg yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Plagg stopped and gave him an inscrutable stare. “As a kwami, I’m against the theft of jewelry, in a general way. But this…” he grinned slowly. “Your cousin might be your evil twin, but there’s no denying that evil people get things done. And he’s done less to you personally than your own father has, so…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But it’s his </span>
  <em>
    <span>wedding ring</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Adrien said, dropping his phone and running a hand through his hair. “I mean, shouldn’t that be sacred? As bad as stealing a Miraculous in some ways, I’d think.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But if he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> a Miraculous, you wouldn’t have a problem taking that away from him, right?” Plagg pointed out. They’d discussed the possibility of Gabriel being Hawkmoth off and on over the years, usually more whenever he would get particularly controlling and unreasonable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, yeah, but that’s… different. He doesn’t deserve a Miraculous, and I’m certain he would misuse it if he had one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t him keeping these heirlooms away from the family that really owns them the same thing, though?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien thought about that. On the one hand, Plagg had a good point. Gabriel really shouldn’t keep the ring(s) if he no longer had a right to them. Adrien already suspected that his mother was dead, and if she wasn’t she certainly hadn’t made any effort to come back to them, or to let them know her whereabouts or state of health in more than a decade. So, Gabriel really didn’t have a right to them anymore, by the standards of most people.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yet… he couldn’t help but understand why his father wanted to keep at least the one he had (assuming Felix wasn’t lying about stealing one of them). It was a physical reminder of the union of his father and mother in marriage- that’s essentially what all wedding rings were. Even if Emilie had chosen to leave, she had never pursued a divorce, in which case, Gabriel could be said to still have some right to wear his ring (if it was his).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And hope was a difficult thing to let go of. Adrien could himself attest to that, since he had clung to the hope that Gabriel would soften toward him since childhood. That hope was barely hanging on by a thread, but… if he had some physical reminder of his father’s earlier care, he knew he would cling to that, just as Gabriel was clinging to his wedding ring(s).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That thought brought up the memory of the scarf he’d received for that long-ago birthday. Adrien got up to hunt it out. He’d never gotten rid of it, though he didn’t wear it much anymore. By this time the scarf had lost much of its initial softness, had some pulled threads, and even a hole or two, but Adrien couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it. But as he took it out of the drawer where it resided with his more expensive </span>
  <em>
    <span>bought</span>
  </em>
  <span> scarves, his fingers caught on something. There was a roughness to the seam at the one of the ends. Perhaps it was just that it had been so long since he’d held the scarf that he noticed it now, but when he peered at it, he couldn’t see anything wrong with it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took it over to his desk lamp, which was one of those large extending/swivel lamps with a magnifying glass in the middle of a round fluorescent bulb. Adrien didn’t need anything like that of course, but he’d seen it in the second-hand shop and it had reminded him of Marinette and her penchant for spending hours sewing on her projects, so, with the vague notion that if she ever stayed over he ought to have something she could use for any projects she brought with her, he had bought it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thrusting the end of the scarf under the lamp, he turned it on and, for the first time, pushed it down far enough he could look through the magnifying lens from the top. And there it was- a signature.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was something he’d never seen before- it was practically invisible since it was sewn on top of the end seam in the same color thread as the scarf itself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Marinette</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien stared at it, almost uncomprehending. There was no reason for Marinette’s name to be stitched into the end of a scarf his </span>
  <em>
    <span>father</span>
  </em>
  <span> had made for him... especially since this was a gift he’d received long before Marinette was even remotely on Gabriel’s radar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pulled his phone out and called his girlfriend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning, Felix stood in the middle of his uncle’s atelier, put off by the fact that he was still tapping away at the screens on his podium instead of having the courtesy to stop what he was doing and pay attention to his nephew. Bridgette’s warnings rang loudly in his ears- this was what he’d been headed toward before meeting her. This was what he could still end up like if he wasn’t careful: cold, impersonal, alone. A financial success, perhaps, but empty inside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uncle, if you could bring yourself to pay the smallest attention to me for </span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> moment,” he said quietly into the silence, “I believe I have something that may interest you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, a pose mirroring that which Gabriel often used. It forced the chest up and out and made one look imposing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The only thing that interests me about you, Felix,” Gabriel intoned in a bored voice, “is how soon you will be leaving Paris, hopefully never to return.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix rolled his eyes. “So dramatic. Really, Uncle Gabriel, and here I thought Adrien got it all from Aunt Emilie.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel actually looked up at him, frozen fury blazing from his eyes. Felix merely cocked an eyebrow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Never dare to speak of my wife in my presence,” Gabriel bit out. “I cannot conceive what made you think you would ever be welcomed here again after what you did. If you had not requested this interview under false pretenses I would have had the gates locked against you. As it is, it is only the thought of the field day the press would have if I had you bodily thrown out that prevents me from doing so.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix merely rolled his eyes again. “If you don’t come down off your high horse, you will miss the opportunity to reclaim something you’ve been missing.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him. “Nothing you can say will convince me that you are not angling for some opportunity to steal the other ring from me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And yet you’ve just confirmed with your own mouth that you had both of the rings in your possession before, and that you’re wearing the one Aunt Emilie used to wear right now. You’re really not the best at considering all the angles of a situation, are you, Uncle?” Felix’ tone dripped with scorn. But then he gave his head a little shake and sighed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, nevermind. I apologize. That does bring us to </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> I am here, though, does it not? My original intent in coming to Paris was, of course, to steal the other ring from you. Fortunately for you, my fiance is a rather remarkable woman, and instead of fostering this bad blood between us, she would rather have me return the ring I stole from you years ago.” Felix brought his left hand around to the front and opened it, revealing the polished twin ring that used to grace Gabriel’s finger resting lightly in the palm of his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Gabriel stared at the ring. “I don’t understand.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix allowed himself to smile a little. “To be honest, I don’t fully understand it myself. Suffice it to say that I would rather </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> end up like you, so I am taking steps to prevent that while I am still young. Besides, as my fiance so rightly said, I really shouldn’t place all my trust and hope for a happy relationship on supposedly magical jewelry. And after all, the legend seems to have not held up in your case, so perhaps it is for the best. Still, they are family heirlooms, so I can only hope that a few more years of my aunt’s continued absence will convince you that she’s not coming back no matter how closely you cling to the past. Perhaps then you will be willing to give us the rings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix was aware, by the small tic which appeared at the corner of his uncle’s mouth, that he’d probably said more than he should have, but he couldn’t bring himself to care much. Part of him- the part that had counted the acquisition of the other Twin Ring as of paramount importance- was still astonished at himself for being here at all, willingly giving the ring he’d stolen so many years ago back to a man whom he fervently believed to be unworthy of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The part of him that loved Bridgette, however, was willing to admit that she was probably right. The rings had been an obsession for him, and the only way to purge that obsession was to willingly relinquish it, even if it meant giving the ring he already had back to someone he neither liked, nor trusted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel stared at the ring in his palm, and Felix could see his own obsession reflected in his uncle’s eyes. His resolve firmed. He would do this. He would do this for Bridgette, and for himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel came down from the podium and approached, though he stayed out of touching range, with his hands carefully held behind his back. Felix resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. Uncle Gabriel had no reason to trust him, and every reason not to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a copy,” Gabriel stated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Felix answered, revealing another ring in his right hand. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span> is a copy. I commissioned it, intending to leave it in place of the one I was going to steal. But if you’ll look at both of them, I’m sure you’ll see which one is the genuine article and which is the fake.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Gabriel simply stared at him accusingly without taking either of the rings, Felix sighed again and went over to the sunken table and placed both of the rings on its surface. Then he turned around and went over to the double doors. Just before he reached them, he turned again, gave his uncle a little bow, and said, “Goodbye Uncle. Do try and let Adrien actually live his own life, won’t you? You’ll be receiving an invitation to the wedding in the mail. I don’t expect you to attend, but if you choose to, you’ll be welcome. You and Adrien both, and I suppose your assistant can come as your plus one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was halfway through the door when he heard Gabriel call out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix… wait.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The truth comes out.</p><p>Partially.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Adrien carefully </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> storm into the mansion. Marinette had asked him not to make a big deal about the scarf and the thieving thereof. And Adrien wasn’t going to. He was simply going to have a little… discussion… with both Nathalie and his father about the ethics of stealing birthday presents from little girls and taking the credit for them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To his surprise, Nathalie was sitting at a desk in the foyer, instead of at her usual desk in the atelier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your father is with someone right now, Adrien,” she said, looking up and smiling faintly. “He’ll be free in about-” she checked the time, “fifteen minutes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Inwardly, Adrien seethed. He knew Gabriel was a busy man. And no,  he hadn’t made an appointment. But it had </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> been this way. Gabriel never had either the time or the inclination to make room in his schedule for Adrien. Adrien was always the one reaching out, the one actively trying to make the relationship work. Gabriel was the one sitting back and doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He couldn’t even be bothered to personally buy a gift for his own son for his birthday.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s alright,” he said, somewhat surprised that what came out of his mouth was quite a pleasant tone of voice. “There’s actually something I need to say to you, as well.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised her eyebrows at him. Adrien came toward her desk and stopped in front of it. Leaning over it a little, he smiled, looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Don’t ever buy me a present that’s supposed to be from my father ever again. If he doesn’t buy it himself, I don’t want it. And never, </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span>, steal someone else’s present to pass off as his again.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nathalie went very still.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still smiling, Adrien backed up and headed toward the doors of his father’s atelier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien don’t, he’s still-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien was already pulling the doors open. He didn’t care if he embarrassed his father in front of someone- not anymore. He was going to tell him what he thought about the scarf, and heaven help him, if Gabriel even looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>puzzled</span>
  </em>
  <span> at the mention of the gift, he was going to do what he’d promised Ladybug he wouldn’t do. He had a very specific plan for this part of the proceedings. He was going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>rip</span>
  </em>
  <span> the blasted ring off his father’s finger, hold it up and say, “You don’t deserve this,” and then leave before he ended up punching his father in the face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But when he walked in, the atelier was empty.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix paused at Gabriel’s call, looking back over his shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His uncle was standing by the table, the fingers of his right hand just touching the rings. He let the door fall closed again as Gabriel picked up first one ring, and then the other, examining them closely. Finally, he put one back down on the table, slipped his own ring off his finger and put both rings together. Felix was too far away to see for certain, but the way his uncle’s shoulders relaxed made him sure he’d determined which ring was the genuine twin of his own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a very driven young man,” Gabriel said in a musing sort of way. “You’ve made a pretty little speech this morning, but I know you must still want the rings… deep down. I wonder if I might convince you to help me with a little project in return for the rings?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something inside leapt at the words, but Felix ruthlessly squashed it back down. He had given up the rings for Bridgette. He had given them up for his own sake as well. As tempting as the offer was...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think you understood the point of my ‘pretty little speech’, Uncle,” he said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I understand the point. But there’s no need to be so dramatic, as you put it. You and I both know you still want the rings. I’m willing to give them up if you help me get something I want in return.” Gabriel looked up at him, expression inscrutable. “After all, you were once desperate enough to make a deal with Hawkmoth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix raised both eyebrows slightly, putting his hands in his pockets. As far as he knew, the only people who had been close enough to hear him make that bargain were Ladybug, Chat Noir, the three akuma Hawkmoth had sent after him (who obviously wouldn’t remember), and Hawkmoth himself. “... I’m listening...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix followed Gabriel into the elevator tube, though he couldn’t help feeling just a bit claustrophobic in the narrow space. He was also more than a little unsettled. The last thing he’d expected from this morning’s interview was to be shown a secret passage. As the elevator neared its destination and a cavernous room opened out in front of him, with a spotlight illuminating a garden at the far end of a metal catwalk, Felix began to think he might just be in over his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He said nothing as he stepped out of the elevator, waiting for his uncle to speak first and explain himself. Gabriel merely waved him forward, so Felix stepped out onto the catwalk. The closer he got to the end, the clearer it became that there was something in the middle of the garden. A tomb perhaps? A long ago Agreste ancestor interred here in some kind of family crypt?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once there, he could see the centerpiece was definitely not a tomb, but he began to feel distinctly uncomfortable anyway. Whatever this was, he was sure he would regret knowing. Gabriel stepped up to whatever it was and pushed a few buttons, then stooped to read some dials. Felix’ unease grew.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The top of the- stasis pod, it had to be a stasis pod of some kind- hissed open and Felix was confronted by… his mother. Only, he’d left his mother hale and hearty and having tea with friends back in London, so… this had to be his aunt. An aunt he barely remembered, except as a few vague memories of smiled greetings followed by laughter behind closed doors when she’d come to visit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Felix said, clasping his hands behind his back. He looked around, aiming for a nonchalant attitude. “As evil lairs go, this one certainly has an elegance to it.” He nodded toward the stasis pod. “I assume you didn’t mean to kill her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t kill her!” Gabriel growled. “She’s still alive, she’s just… in a magical coma I haven’t been able to break.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A </span>
  <em>
    <span>magical</span>
  </em>
  <span> coma,” Felix repeated carefully. He took a breath. “I must assume that this has something to do with a Miraculous? Perhaps, the one used by Hawkmoth?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh yes, the pieces were all falling into place. One look at his uncle’s face told him the truth, though he’d suspected it since the moment Gabriel had mentioned that long ago, short-lived, and ill-conceived collusion between himself and Hawkmoth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t come across the butterfly Miraculous until some time after Emilie began to fade away. This was due to a different one- the peacock. When she found it, neither of us realized that it was damaged until it was too late. Using a damaged Miraculous has drastic and severe consequences for the holder. Before we knew it, she was too sick to function. She began sleeping more and more until one day… she just never woke up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Felix said. “The peacock… I recall some rumors about Hawkmoth getting a sidekick…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mayura,” Gabriel replied. “Someone I trust implicitly helped me out when I was… in difficulties during a battle. I refused to let her use it more than rarely, but she got sick as well. Eventually I managed to get my hands on a translated copy of a tome I had- a guide to the Miraculous, if you will. I fixed the peacock Miraculous, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> health improved. For a while, I pinned the fixed broach to Emilie’s suit and left it, hoping it would bring her out of the coma, but… apparently she’s too far gone for that to have any effect. At least, I left it there for a solid month and nothing changed. Perhaps the fixed Miraculous can only heal a conscious holder. I don’t know. Suffice it to say that my original plan still holds the best means of success in reviving my wife.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix pursed his lips. “The Miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“May I ask- why those two in particular?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel shot him a sidelong look. “The tome describes a ritual using those two Miraculouses that, once completed, will grant a wish so powerful that it can even change reality.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded, suppressing a sudden shiver. Felix was not one to believe much in superstition, but… confronted with the reality of Hawkmoth, magical jewelry, and now this mysterious all-powerful wish… he couldn’t help but think that it would turn out to be a monkey’s paw situation, if his uncle ever did defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir. He might get his wish, but most likely at a price he wasn’t counting on. Looking at his uncle’s face, however, told him that warning him would be useless.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“May I ask why the heroes refused to help?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel frowned at him. Felix blinked. “You did at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>ask</span>
  </em>
  <span> for help in the beginning, yes? Before turning to more violent means? I mean, I’m assuming the first akuma was a reaction to their refusal on your part...” he trailed off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was Gabriel’s turn to purse his lips. “When Emilie found the peacock and I found the butterfly, and the tome neither of us could read, we did our best to find anyone else who might have jewelry that granted superpowers. We found nothing. The last mention of anything of the sort was in the early eighteen hundreds. Yet, I suspected that there must be more somewhere, especially after N- I found out that combining the black cat ring and the ladybug earrings would grant the user a wish. I had to at least try.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The tome depicted the Miraculous holders as great warriors, healers, and protectors- heroes, in fact. And the best way to draw out a hero is to present them with someone or something to fight against. I wasn’t optimistic when I sent out that first akuma- after all, there was no telling where the Miraculous I sought would be in the world. It might take a lot of time and damage to draw their attention from half-way around the world, so I opted for something very strong and resilient. Something that would only get worse and cause more damage the longer it was active. At first I thought I got lucky- Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared almost immediately to fight Stoneheart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Originally I was going to arrange a private meeting with them and ask for their help. But then-” Gabriel sighed in remembered irritation, “- I discovered that the holders of those Miraculouses were nothing more than </span>
  <em>
    <span>children.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Clearly there was no point in asking for </span>
  <em>
    <span>their</span>
  </em>
  <span> help. They were so clumsy and uncoordinated at first that I was sure they had not had those Miraculouses for long, and they were too young to know anything useful. And when I tried to shame them into giving up jewels that were </span>
  <em>
    <span>far </span>
  </em>
  <span>too powerful for them to control- </span>
  <em>
    <span>children</span>
  </em>
  <span> should not be fighting monsters, for heaven’s sake! They should be in school, or safely at home, I can’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>believe</span>
  </em>
  <span> he-  nevermind. Anyway, Ladybug made a little speech- all foolhardy optimism and reckless promises- and turned the city against me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel sniffed. “There was no going back after that. I was painted as the villain, so the villain I became, hoping that I could at least keep my promise to Emilie eventually. I did get my hands on the old man who guarded all the Miraculouses once. But he had a jewel of protection, and I couldn’t get any answers out of him. And then the old fool transferred his guardianship over to Ladybug- who was </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> merely a child!- and that triggered some kind of spell which erased all his memories. It’s been mostly a stalemate ever since.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The more Gabriel spoke, the colder Felix felt. He understood Gabriel’s motivation, understood his chosen tactics and the logic behind them. In his shoes, and given the powers Gabriel had, Felix might have done the same things. And that genuinely frightened him. Because Bridgette had opened up Felix’ narrow little world. For most of his life, his family was the most important thing to him. But now he had Bridgette and Bridgette’s friends, and he could clearly picture what their reaction would be if Felix ever told them what his uncle had just said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The London papers and news media occasionally covered the akuma fights, if they were particularly brutal or destructive, or even just </span>
  <em>
    <span>weird</span>
  </em>
  <span>, like that time the akuma of the day turned everyone around them into bowls of salad. And every time, Bridgette and her friends would shake their heads and wonder what was wrong with Hawkmoth that he thought constantly disrupting people’s lives like that was okay. Most of them liked and praised Ladybug and Chat Noir, though nothing to rival their popularity here in Paris, of course.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Until now, Felix hadn’t really cared one way or another. His little deal with Hawkmoth had yielded nothing, and he counted himself lucky to be out and away from that mess. But now… now his family was deeply involved in it. Despite what he’d told Adrien, the Agrestes were linked to the Graham de Vanilys- what happened to them affected himself, his mother, and eventually, Bridgette.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you plan to do with the Wish?” Felix asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Turn back time. Erase the past and make it so Emilie never found that damned broach. Then… everything will go back to the way it was- the way it </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span> be.” Gabriel looked at him, his expression open for once. “You see? Nothing villainous. Nothing dangerous or world-ending. I don’t want to rule the world. I just want my wife back.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded thoughtfully. As all-powerful wishes went, it wasn't too bad- on the surface. If Gabriel could prevent the one event which caused his aunt’s decline, then history would rewrite itself without the advent of Hawkmoth, the revelation of the Miraculous, and all the terror and stress those things had caused for the people of Paris. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure it was actually going to work that way. And it took no account of the inevitable price that would have to be paid. It also didn’t take into account the fact that the rewriting of history might end with Felix engaged to someone other than Bridgette, which made the giving of the twin rings something of a moot point. Felix very much wished he could say no, and walk out a free man. But that wasn’t likely. So, he would have to play along.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That seems reasonable enough, and Mother would enjoy more of Aunt Emilie’s visits, I’m sure. However, I’m not sure how the promise of the rings comes into it. If you rewrite history, none of this will ever have happened, and I won’t remember the promise when my wedding comes around again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel smiled thinly. “The legend states that the rings are passed on to the next generation upon their marriage. If the Wish works and I get my Emilie back, I see no reason not to continue the tradition, and, in fact, I suspect your Aunt will be quite as adamant as you ever were that we should give them to you when you get married.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded slowly. Gabriel seemed to have thought of everything for once- there was no getting out of it that way. “Very well, Uncle. How can I help?”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gabriel’s plan was… less than inspired. As he listened to it, Felix thought more than once that it was blatantly obvious why he had yet to succeed in his stated goal, and that it really would be better for his uncle to stick to designing clothes instead of… this. Almost against his better judgement- since the several places where the plans could be improved on were glaring- Felix agreed to do what Gabriel had set him to do. Which, basically, was to be on hand the next time he akumatized someone so that he could distract one of the heroes and thus either enable the akuma to steal their miraculous, or steal it himself. Then, Felix would take on the mantle of whichever Miraculous he (or the akuma) managed to get, and they would fight together to take the other Miraculous as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix had to bite the inside of his cheek several times to keep himself quiet. After all, he reminded himself, he wasn’t actually trying to help Gabriel succeed. The fact that he could have done so much better himself was a moot point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once his uncle was satisfied Felix understood what he was supposed to do, Felix brought up the matter of Adrien- just testing the waters, as it were- to see if Gabriel suspected his son of being Chat Noir, and also to see if he could manage to actually get Gabriel’s permission to tell Adrien what was going on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why haven’t you brought Adrien in on this?” he asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel sighed, frowning. “At first it was because he was simply too young. I wasn’t going to put my own son in danger, and I knew he would want to help once he knew what I was doing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix, remembering the many times past akumas had either directly targeted Adrien’s civilian identity (the targeting of famous individuals was a guarantee the British news media would cover the attack), or harmed Chat Noir without a second thought, merely nodded and kept his thoughts to himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then… I suppose it just became too difficult to tell him. I’ve been doing this for so long without telling him that revealing myself now…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He would be understandably angry. And… he would probably make a very powerful akuma,” Felix suggested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I won’t do that to him,” Gabriel said, shaking his head. Felix shrugged. It was what he wanted to hear, but he wasn’t going to let his uncle know that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He made another suggestion. “I could tell him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel shot him a suspicious look. “Why are you so eager for him to know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix folded his arms. “From what I know of Adrien, you’re right- he’s impulsive and would want to help. But I also don’t think it’s right that he doesn’t know his mother is right here under the mansion. If my mother were in a magical coma, I not only would want to know, I would be rightfully enraged at whoever kept that information from me. Besides,” he said, “none of this will matter once you get the earrings and ring, so what does one more person knowing change? Adrien could help a lot- Ladybug has shown him special consideration in the past, hasn’t she? He might be able to get close enough to steal her earrings. Then I could focus on getting the ring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Come little butterfly, fly into the trap</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, watching his uncle’s face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel slowly nodded, his face thoughtful. “Perhaps you’re right… it might be time to tell him. He’s older now, surely he’ll be able to see why I kept it a secret. And you’re right- it might be better coming from you. That way he can get all the anger out, and you won’t mind him raging at you, and then he’ll calm down and see reason.” He smiled slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix hummed in a way that could be construed as agreement. There was no way any of that would happen. Well, not the part where Adrien ‘saw reason,’ anyway. The getting mad part most likely would, but Felix was prepared to weather that, and he planned to ask Adrien to bring his girlfriend along for moral support. Now that he knew Adrien was Chat Noir, it was even odds that his girlfriend was actually Ladybug. If so, great! Both of the heroes of Paris would learn Hawkmoth’s identity at the same time. If not, she could at least help Adrien through this next rough patch. Knowing Adrien, he wouldn’t have picked someone who would abandon him as soon as his life became a bit… complicated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he followed Gabriel back across the catwalk toward the elevator, Felix allowed his mind to move on to the next problem. Now that he had a plan in place for outing Hawkmoth to his arch-nemeses with his unknowing permission, he had to figure out a way to keep Gabriel out of jail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien heard a gasp behind him. Of course- Nathalie had followed him, and had probably planned on pulling him back out of the room, but now her secret was revealed. Adrien gave her a cold glare before letting his eyes roam across the empty room again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fact that it was empty was, honestly, just the straw that broke the camel’s back for Adrien. His relationship with his father had never been particularly good, since Gabriel seemed to think that caring for Adrien mostly involved keeping an iron grip on how he spent his time, but in the last few years it had grown more distant than ever. Adrien had moved out and since he was of age and out of the house, Gabriel had very little say on how he spent his time and with who. Still, Adrien had tried, largely because he’d once gotten a lovely scarf for his birthday and thought it was from his father. Now he learned that it was originally made and gifted by someone else, while Gabriel unfairly benefited from their labor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now, when he’d come over specifically to confront his father about that, he finds that Nathalie had been covering for him </span>
  <em>
    <span>again.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien was just about to storm out of the office when something unexpected happened. There was a kind of mechanical clunk, and suddenly a hole opened up in the floor in front of the portrait of Emilie that hid the safe. As a familiar figure rose up through it, confusion and betrayal were added to Adrien’s current fuming state. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix met his eyes and tried to hide his reaction, ending up looking generally annoyed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s mouth dropped open. He could just imagine what Felix had been doing- probably looking for that ring. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Felix.</span>
  </em>
  <span> What-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Felix held up a hand in the universal gesture for ‘wait’ and stepped aside… and Adrien got a second shock as his </span>
  <em>
    <span>father</span>
  </em>
  <span> rose up through the hole in the floor. Gabriel, too, looked annoyed to see him standing there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can see I need to start locking my atelier doors,” was all Gabriel said as he walked back over to his podium. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien stared between Felix and his father, his anger rising above the confusion. So Felix wanted to keep a low profile, did he? Didn’t want Gabriel knowing he was in town? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah, right.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Father I need to speak with you,” Adrien said, keeping his voice firm and ignoring Felix’s presence for now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not now, Adrien.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, now.” Adrien said. He wasn’t going to back down this time. “Do you remember the scarf you gave me for my fourteenth birthday?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. Was there anything else? I need to get back to work, since Felix ended up taking so much of my time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien gritted his teeth. “Can’t spare a second for your only son, oh no, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>Felix</span>
  </em>
  <span> apparently gets a tour of previously unknown secret passages? I thought you didn’t trust him! What else are you hiding from me?” he demanded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien flicked a furious gaze to his cousin who silently shook his head at him. Adrien narrowed his own eyes. He was done. He was so done with secrets and being pushed aside as if his opinions and choices meant absolutely nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix made an appointment, like a considerate person,” Gabriel said, focused on the monitor screens in front of him. “Also, he has returned what he stole from me many years ago, and we have made up our differences.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps now would be a good time for me to tell him, Uncle,” Felix said then, jolting Adrien out of his shock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s anger began to fade into confusion once more. Seriously, what was going on?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I think that would be best,” Gabriel assented. “I don’t have time today anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Only then did Felix move, swiftly catching Adrien by the arm and propelling him toward the doors.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not here,” he said in a low voice that had a subtle warning in it. Adrien frowned, but followed. He was a little surprised when Felix took him right past Nathalie’s desk and out the front doors, though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stopped on the front steps, though. “I can’t leave the rental here, and you probably won’t want to come back for your car, so we’ll have to drive separately.” Adrien was about to ask about that when Felix nodded to himself and continued. “It’ll have to be right out of the city, so that’s probably best anyway.” He looked at Adrien with a strangely piercing expression, then took out his phone and pulled up a maps app. He typed in an address, then turned the screen so Adrien could see it. “Meet me here as soon as you can. And bring your girlfriend with you. Pull her out of class or away from work- this is more important than either of those things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix,” Adrien grabbed his arm as he started down the steps. Most of the anger was gone, but he was still annoyed about being kept in the dark. And more annoyed at being ordered around by his own cousin. Did he have the slightest idea what kind of mess Marinette would have on her hands if she just skipped out on work? “What is this all about? I thought you came here to get Father’s other ring, not give yours back to him! And I can’t just pull Marinette out of work, not without a really good excuse.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix gave him a strained smile. “Tell her it’s a family emergency. That’s basically the truth of it anyway. Look... I really </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> explain anything here. But I will, when you meet me at that address.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that, he pulled himself free and went down to his own car. Shaking his head at the unexpected turn this morning had taken, Adrien followed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette was actually enjoying her morning at work for once. The new magazine was finished, all the layouts approved, so now she was back to working on designs and collaborating with her fellow designers on the upcoming spring line. The pace was back to merely fast, and after the rush of the last week, it was nothing she couldn’t handle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was deep in a design spree when her phone chimed. She only picked it up because it was Adrien’s special ringtone, and she already felt guilty for basically abandoning him the last week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I’m kind of in the zone-” she started, but he cut her off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen, I’m really sorry, especially if you’re in the zone,” Adrien said. “But something’s come up. A family emergency. That’s all I know right now, but… I need you. Can you get away?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Marinette said, her attention caught. “What kind of emergency? Your family or mine? Oh my- is it the bakery? Was there an accident? A fire? Are my parents alright??”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She heard him take a breath through the phone and braced herself for the worst possible news. But it didn’t come.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your parents are fine,” Adrien said, “It’s my family that’s the problem. Look, I’m going to come pick you up, okay? Let’s just… take the morning. Felix said it was important that I bring you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix?” Marinette asked. “Since when does your cousin have the right to declare a family emergency? I mean, unless your father is in the hospital- and I do hope he’s not!- I don’t see-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Marinette, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She huffed. “Fine. But- fair warning- if this turns out to be some stupid, petty thing, I’m going to kick him with my pointy shoes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That actually got a little chuckle. “Fair enough. I’ll be there in fifteen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette hung up and looked at the time, then at her design in progress and groaned. Fifteen minutes was not enough time to get it to a point she was satisfied leaving it, and just enough time that if she continued where she left off, she’d be back in the zone and even </span>
  <em>
    <span>more</span>
  </em>
  <span> annoyed to be pulled away. So she scribbled a couple of notes to herself on the edge of the sheet to remind her future self which direction she’d been headed, and went ahead and left her desk. She made the rounds of coffee and ran a couple minor errands for the others before Adrien showed up on the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This better be worth it,” Marinette said darkly… but didn’t hesitate to kiss him hello. When she pulled back, Adrien looked uncharacteristically somber. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be honest,” he said. “I have no idea what’s going on. But,” he glanced around and Marinette followed his gaze. Most of the designers were hard at work, but she suddenly felt very exposed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll tell you what I know in the car, alright?” Adrien said, giving her an apologetic smile. Marinette smiled back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. Let’s go then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The drive took almost an hour- when Felix had said ‘right out of the city’ he’d meant it. The location was a large estate of manicured gardens with a small bed and breakfast on the grounds, popular with both tourists and wedding planners. Adrien didn’t know what to think.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He texted Felix when he got there, and pretty soon they found themselves walking along a private garden path with Felix. Some of the gardens were apparently available for private hire- like renting out a conference room at a hotel. They walked along, not saying much, until they came to a set of wide swings under a grape arbor. Felix led them to it, and took the swing opposite to them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” he said. “So. The family emergency is this- I know who Hawkmoth is.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>DUN Dun dun...!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The truth comes out.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I know who Hawkmoth is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien and his girlfriend, whom he’d introduced as Marinette, both sat bolt upright at the words, tensed and seeming ready to leap up out of their seats at the slightest provocation. Marinette started tensely scanning the sky, while Adrien closed his eyes and slumped back into the swing, facepalming. Felix smiled slightly- good, he’d figured it out. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Time to throw him for another loop. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He did feel slightly guilty, but considered this to be the ‘bandaid removal’ approach. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” he said, and Marinette’s eyes snapped to his, the focus and determination in her gaze making the probability she was Ladybug skyrocket in his mind. Meanwhile, Adrien removed his hand from his face and sat back up with a distinctly tired expression. Felix couldn’t really blame him. Given everything that had happened in the last week, Adrien had been through a lot emotionally. This had to be the worst blow yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here’s the thing. I don’t want Hawkmoth to go to jail. So I won’t actually tell you his name until you agree to my plan to reclaim all the Miraculous currently under his control, or possibly come up with a better plan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do you care?” Adrien said, leveling a glare at him. “Hawkmoth has been terrorizing everyone in Paris for more than ten years. He should pay for that! All the people he’s hurt deserve to have justice and closure. A public reveal, a public trial-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Would serve only to put yet more innocent people through a media circus and undeserved suspicion, not to mention destroying many livelihoods into the bargain,” Felix countered. “Just... listen to my plan before you decide one way or another,” he urged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. We’re listening,” Marinette said crisply, making his mental probability jump another few points.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix took a deep breath. “Hawkmoth told me there was a guardian of all the Miraculous at one point who lost his memories when he transferred the guardianship to Ladybug,” he said, giving Marinette a significant glance. To her credit, she didn’t react, just stared right back at him. He glanced to the side to see Adrien frowning in confusion. “My plan would involve asking Ladybug and Chat Noir- and, I suppose, anyone else with a Miraculous- to work a similar spell on Hawkmoth himself. I want to erase his memories of the Miraculous and hopefully those of Mayura as well, then leave the Miraculous somewhere conspicuous- perhaps on the Eiffel Tower- with an anonymous note that states the person who was Hawkmoth has died, the Miraculous were found on his person, and the writer of the note thought Hawkmoth’s surviving family didn’t deserve to have his memory sullied, but didn’t think it right either to continue his quest or to keep the Miraculous jewels.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix looked from one to the other. Marinette’s expression had, if possible, hardened, while Adrien looked more and more defeated. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hm, that’s interesting. I wonder why.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you see, Paris as a whole would get closure- no more Hawkmoth, the offending Miraculous back in proper guardian hands, Hawkmoth and his sidekick get to continue living their lives without being a threat to anyone, and their families don’t have to shoulder the burden of their guilt.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What if they should,” Adrien muttered. He looked up and Felix was startled to see that somehow, in the five minutes since they’d sat down to talk, he’d developed dark circles under his eyes. “What if their families </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span> shoulder the burden of their guilt? After all, they were living with supervillains and yet, somehow, they either </span>
  <em>
    <span>failed to notice</span>
  </em>
  <span>, or they </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and are therefore complicit. As far as I’m concerned, they should pay just as much as Hawkmoth and Mayura.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s eyes burned with self-recrimination. Felix tightened his lips at his cousin’s reaction. Of course, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>would </span>
  </em>
  <span>feel guilty… and of course he would feel obligated to suffer right along with his father. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I feel like I’m missing part of the conversation,” Marinette spoke up. “Regardless, I do have a few questions. One, why are you telling </span>
  <em>
    <span>us?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Two, how did you discover any of this? And three, what do you get out of it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sighed, relaxing a little. Perhaps the more Adrien knew, the faster he would come to his senses.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll answer your questions, but it will take a little time and a lot of explanation. For the first question, I’m telling the pair of you because Adrien is Chat Noir, and I’m growing more and more convinced that you, Marinette, are Ladybug. Obviously, the heroes of Paris should know the identity of Hawkmoth first and foremost. I also require your help to put my plan into action, so there’s no point in telling anyone else first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both of them stiffened again, Adrien actually jerking up and staring at Felix in horror. Marinette’s face was wooden and shuttered, but she wasn’t refuting the suggestion, either.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix! How…” Adrien managed, looking panicked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I... well, I was following you last night when you went to dinner at the mansion.” Felix felt a little embarrassed at having to admit his bad behavior now that he wasn’t focused on the twin rings anymore, but it was the truth after all. “I was planning to sneak in and place some cameras, but… anyway, the akuma alert went off and a minute later I saw Chat Noir vaulting out of one of the windows. I stuck around long enough to see Chat Noir come back to the mansion, and then a few minutes later, you walked out the front doors and got into your car and left. From there it wasn’t difficult to put the pieces together.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien cursed. “This isn’t supposed to happen. This was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> supposed to happen! Marinette, I’m so sor-” Adrien cut himself off as he finally turned his head to see Marinette staring at him with wide eyes. “Aaaaand you’re mad. Of course you’re mad, you have every right to be, but I </span>
  <em>
    <span>swear</span>
  </em>
  <span>-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette shut him up with a kiss, which Felix was grateful for, though he politely looked away. It appeared his cousin had either not heard, or not paid attention to his suspicion that his girlfriend is Ladybug. No doubt that was due to the double shocks of finding out his father has been his arch nemesis and that his secret identity was blown. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe it’s been you all along, silly cat,” Marinette said, just loud enough for Felix to catch. Felix blinked then cautiously turned his head to look at both of them. Adrien was holding her a little apart from him, looking at her blankly, while Marinette wore a blushing half-smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I” Adrien stuttered. “You… you’re not mad?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course I’m mad!” Marinette said with a bright smile. “But I’m mad at your cousin, not you. I understand all about secret identities, after all.” She sat back and reached up to rub at her earlobes. Only then did Felix notice the apparently-black stud earrings she wore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien gaped at her, looked away, gaped at her again, did that whole silently-pointing-with-his-finger thing, and then abruptly got up and walked away. Marinette frowned and made to get up, too, presumably to follow him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I take it you didn’t know,” Felix said, distracting her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette leveled a glare at him. “Of course not. It’s always been too dangerous for us to know each other’s identities, </span>
  <em>
    <span>thank you very much.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She folded her arms and tightened her lips. “However, considering that you’re about to hand us Hawkmoth’s identity, I think I can overlook that… </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> time.” She threw another concerned look over at Adrien, who was standing next to a hedge a few paces away, his hands on his hips and his back toward them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Give him a few minutes,” Felix advised. “He’s had quite a few shocks today, and that’s on top of something I told him a few days ago that he hasn’t had enough time to process yet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette’s frown deepened a little. “He left me a note saying you’d asked him to do something he wasn’t sure of…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I did. It would have been risky, and I’ve since come to my senses, but… that situation led directly to discovering Hawkmoth’s identity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix winced as Adrien suddenly let out a primal scream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure if I regret coming back to Paris or not,” he said quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette’s eyes narrowed. “You know, you said this whole thing was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>family emergency…</span>
  </em>
  <span> and now Adrien is acting like-” Her eyes widened again and she shot Felix a look of horror.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bingo. She’s figured it out, too.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Well that was gratifying. He was glad to know the heroes of Paris were so quick on the uptake. Marinette could have come to the right conclusion a </span>
  <em>
    <span>bit</span>
  </em>
  <span> faster, but she didn’t have all the context clues that Adrien had earlier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The primal scream, followed by Adrien’s collapse onto the grass was too much for Marinette. She couldn’t let him go through this alone. She knew Adrien… she knew her </span>
  <em>
    <span>kitty.</span>
  </em>
  <span> That last thought brought a soft smile to her lips, but also a fresh pain to her heart. She knew, all too well, that he would be blaming himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ignoring Felix’ further attempts to distract her, she got up and hurried over to Adrien, sinking to her knees and wrapping her arms around him as best she could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette remembered how Chat had broken down just a few nights ago- this was worse. It made sense, considering all the crappy revelations of the morning, and unfortunately there wasn’t anything she could do but make sure he knew she was there- that he wasn’t abandoned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien became aware of arms around him, and Plagg vibrating in his shirt pocket. He focused on his breathing as the storm of tears ebbed. It was the second time in a week that he’d let himself go like this and it left him feeling… raw. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“M’lady?” he finally croaked. Just that single word was almost enough to start the tears all over again. Just the knowledge that she was there, that she hadn’t abandoned him, that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved him</span>
  </em>
  <span>… as he now knew his father did not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel’s motivations were still unknown, but Adrien had a good guess. When Ladybug had become the guardian, she’d warned him about the reality-changing wish that would be activated if Tikki and Plagg’s Miraculouses were ever combined… and the potential consequences of such a wish. There would always be an equal price to pay for whatever was wished. If Hawkmoth had found out about the wish- likely, considering he’d had a book about the Miraculous heroes at least as long as Hawkmoth had existed- he probably meant to bring Emilie back. Whether that was just back from wherever she had hidden herself, or back from the dead, or… it didn’t matter. The fact was, someone else would be lost, or die in exchange for her return.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m here, kitty- Adrien,” Marinette’s soft voice sounded. “I’m not going to leave you. And it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>not your fault.</span>
  </em>
  <span> None of this is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I…” Adrien’s voice came out more as a plaintive wail than words. “I lived with him for years! I should have-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop that.” Marinette cut him off, and she was using her Ladybug voice- full of conviction and authority. Adrien stopped talking... but that didn’t keep his mind from continuing the thoughts anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> your fault,” she repeated. “Turn it around- how many years has </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hawkmoth</span>
  </em>
  <span> lived with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Chat Noir</span>
  </em>
  <span> and never noticed?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s self-recriminating brain came to a screeching halt. That… was a good point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There is magic protecting our identities, kitty,” Marinette continued. “That works the same for Hawkmoth as it does for us. And more than that… he pushed you away,” she said, softer now. “He did that on purpose so you wouldn’t figure it out. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. How many times did you ask him to come to an event? How many meals did he miss eating with you? How many times did you ask for his presence or his attention and he just brushed you off?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She started combing her fingers through his sweat-damp hair and shivers went down his spine, leaving warmth and relaxation in their wake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He told </span>
  <em>
    <span>Felix,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Adrien said, trying not to sound sullen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s only because he thought he could make a deal with me,” Felix said, sounding unexpectedly close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Immediately, Adrien started pulling himself together, sitting up and wiping his face, relaxing his features into a socially acceptable expression. Beside him, Marinette sighed. Adrien felt a little pang of guilt, knowing that she wished he could let himself be- but he literally couldn’t help himself- it felt wrong to be so vulnerable in front of Felix. If there was one thing Gabriel had succeeded in, it was training Adrien to always be “on” in public. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh-what did he say?” Adrien said, his breath hitching a little despite his best efforts, though at least his voice sounded almost normal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you want to hear it?” Felix asked, and for once his tone wasn’t harsh or disinterested or accusatory. Instead it was gentle. Adrien risked a look, very aware that he was a hair away from breaking down again. Felix’ face was grave, but it wasn’t judgmental.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I need to hear it,” he said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go back to the swings, then. We’ll all be more comfortable.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien took in a deep breath and rose, reaching for Marinette’s hand. She squeezed it, and smiled sympathetically. It should have been comforting, but instead he felt… uncomfortable. His despair was ebbing, but anger was taking its place. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix told them everything- the return of the ring, the deal Gabriel had tempted him with, showing him the lair where Emilie lay encased in a stasis pod, and his plan to use the ultimate wish to bring her out of the magical coma.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien had stiffened perceptibly when Emilie had come into the story, and for a few seconds Marinette was afraid he was going to break down again. But after a moment, he relaxed again. Marinette hoped it was because he realized that Emilie </span>
  <em>
    <span>hadn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> left, had not abandoned him with a father who seemed incapable of showing his love and affection. She’d become sick, and instead of being open about her illness, Gabriel had hid it and let everyone think there was some great mystery about her disappearance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anger burned slow and sullen in her gut when she thought of that. Gabriel was a hard man, demanding perfection from his son and his employees alike. He could not even admit that his own wife was sick- no, he had to hide her away so her illness didn’t sully his image of a perfect family. And in so doing, he’d turned down a dark path and damaged his relationship with his own son past repair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And all because he thought he could erase everything once he had what he wanted. Marinette knew how seductive that wish could be- she’d been tempted once or twice herself in the past. But the price was too great. There was no telling in advance what it would be, but it was certain to balance out the wish itself- and wishing someone to wake up from a magical coma could only, in the best case scenario, cause someone else to fall into a coma. That wasn’t fair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel was selfish and self-centered and his knowledge of the power of the wish meant he cared </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span> for what he’d done so far. All the pain, all the heartache, the trauma he’d caused- it didn’t matter, because he could erase it all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette knew better. There were always echoes. If Gabriel had succeeded somehow, he would have been haunted by his own memories, if nothing else. Even now she sometimes had nightmares about Chat Blanc- and now she knew how that must have come about. Many of Gabriel’s actions and seeming irrationality made a lot more sense now that she knew he was Hawkmoth. He took opportunities to deliberately cause akumas. Without a doubt, if she and Adrien had started dating back in college- an inevitability once their identities were even partially revealed at that age- he would have interfered somehow, probably hoping to akumatize either of them when their hearts got broken. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Come to think of it… Lila had made her life extremely difficult for a while there… and Lila had become a model at Gabriel with no experience and without any warning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette pulled her mind back from that rabbit trail and tried to focus on what Felix was saying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gabriel had a plan, of course,” Felix said, rolling his eyes. “Not that it’s a particularly good one. It relies more on luck and chance than anything resembling good strategy. Really, the man should stick to designing clothes, because he’s not a particularly good supervillain.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s the plan?” Adrien asked quietly, and Marinette was glad to hear that he seemed to be over the worst of the breakdown. Not that she blamed him in the least- finding out your own father was Hawkmoth would rattle anyone, but for Adrien…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Basically, I’m supposed to distract one of you during the next akuma battle- preferably get one of you alone so I can try to take your Miraculous myself. Failing that, distract you enough to let the akuma of the day get close enough to take you out themselves and </span>
  <em>
    <span>then</span>
  </em>
  <span> take your Miraculous. If we couldn’t get both of you in one fight, I would have worn the stolen Miraculous during the next one- which, if I’m right, probably would have been right after the first one- and I and the akuma would have teamed up against whoever was still in the fight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette stared at him, appalled. Adrien just snorted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t he remember what happened the </span>
  <em>
    <span>last</span>
  </em>
  <span> time you were involved in an akuma fight?” he asked. “I don’t think either of us would have been likely to trust you in the slightest. You assaulted Ladybug while pretending to be me, and when you got cornered, you tried to team up with Hawkmoth against us! My lady might not have recognized you in the heat of battle, but I certainly would have, and once I had, I would have warned her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix just shrugged. “Like I said- he’s not a particularly good supervillain.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s managed to terrorize Paris for over a decade,” Marinette put in dryly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But he hasn’t actually accomplished anything,” Felix insisted. “All the damage gets healed immediately after the battle, and most people don’t remember much if they get hit. And he is certainly a lot farther away from actually getting what he wants today than he was a few years ago.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Largely because we know who he is now,” Marinette said, pointedly. “Speaking of which, why try to keep his name quiet when you were obviously giving us enough clues to figure it out on our own? And in heaven’s name, </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> don’t you want him to go to prison?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien flinched, and Marinette immediately felt guilty. She reached over and squeezed his hand in mute apology. He squeezed back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix regarded her steadily. “I was hoping that keeping his identity secret for a few more moments would let you consider my plan without prejudice. I understand that as heroes, you two have something of a self-sacrificing complex. But the fallout of the arrest of Gabriel Agreste would negatively impact the lives of many more people than just you two. Everyone at </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gabriel,</span>
  </em>
  <span> for instance. How long do you think that ship will sail without the micromanaging figurehead? How long would it survive if both the figurehead </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> his assistant, who, unless I miss my guess, is the main cog in that machine, were removed?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beside her, Adrien sucked in a breath and whispered, “Mayura.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette closed her eyes as the realization washed over her. It made sense- too much sense. She opened her eyes again and sighed. “While that is a good point, the reality is that when powerful people are caught and tried for their crimes, those under them suffer. Their families, their businesses… it’s all tainted by association. That’s the way justice works, unfortunately. And the people of Paris deserve justice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix raised an eyebrow. “So you’re telling me you’re perfectly willing to have your own reputation as a designer go down in flames and possibly never work in the fashion world again, or- at the most- only on the periphery? You’re willing to let Adrien- who, may I remind you, has been fighting Hawkmoth on a near-daily basis for the last decade- face police scrutiny and deal with a media and public who will be all too willing to believe he was complicit? I mean, you could reveal your identity, Adrien, but I don’t know that even that would save you from malicious, suspicious rumors.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette hung her head, but she knew what the right thing to do was. Adrien leaned a little more into her side and she tried to wordlessly convey how sorry she was for everything he would have to endure.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s something else you haven’t considered, Felix,” Adrien said, surprising Marinette. She turned her head to look at him. He was sunk in on himself again, and she squeezed his hand. Adrien took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ve carried this secret of being Chat Noir for years. And for the most part it’s been fine. I enjoyed it, it was an escape for me, and something that made me feel useful and relevant. But how could I go around pretending that I didn’t know my own father was Hawkmoth? How could I possibly keep </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> a secret? It’s shameful, but… I…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Words seemed to fail him as he shook his head. Marinette heard Felix sigh in obvious exasperation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look, one of the questions you asked was what I was getting out of this. Well, this is it- I want Gabriel and Nathalie to go free with altered or erased memories. I want this whole debacle to be over and done with. He’s done enough harm, and there’s no need to continue it. And I do </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> want a scandal that will have repercussions for so many people for years- particularly not </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span> when I’m about to be married. So there you have it.” Felix shrugged a little where he sat with his arms crossed over his chest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honestly Adrien, I recommend massive amounts of therapy for you- you clearly need it. Sacrificing yourself on the altar of public opinion, however,  is not and should not be required. Ordinary criminals and villains might have to face the reality Marinette pointed out, but I see no reason to subject ourselves and all of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gabriel’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> employees to that fate when we have alternative means at our disposal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette grimaced. “We can’t use the Miraculous for selfish purposes- that’s not how it works, Felix.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t be using the Miraculous,” a high-pitched sweet voice suddenly sounded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette blinked at the little red sprite suddenly hovering in mid-air between them and Felix. Tikki turned to Felix and addressed him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I’m Tikki, Ladybug’s kwami. I’m what lets her turn into Ladybug. And you’re right- there is a spell that can erase memories tied to the Miraculous, but it would have to be performed at the Guardians Temple in Tibet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix cocked his head. Marinette gaped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tikki!” she hissed. “What are you doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tikki turned back toward them. “You’re a wonderful Ladybug, Marinette- the best I’ve ever had, in fact. And you, Adrien… I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve never seen Plagg happier. I know he tends to be crotchety and lazy, but he really does care about you- you’re good for each other. And neither of you deserve to deal with the backlash that will come with revealing Hawkmoth’s identity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette’s mouth worked once or twice. “Tikki, I… what about the rules?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What rules?” Tikki smiled. “Officially, the rules are that identities should remain secret, even between holders. In practice… holders have fallen in love and revealed themselves to each other before. It’s risky- it puts both of them in greater danger- but it generally works out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And when a holder turns, or a Miraculous falls into the wrong hands, it’s up to the guardians and holders of the time to decide what to do with them when they are finally caught. In the past that has involved public reveals and equally public executions, but there have been times when the evil person simply disappeared and was never heard from again. There have even been a few times when the guardians decided to use the spell to erase memories and release them to go back to their lives. Every case is different.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tikki flew closer to Marinette’s face, an expression of sympathy on her tiny little face. “All I’m saying is that you have options, Marinette. I’m sure Paris will be fine with simply knowing that Hawkmoth won’t be a problem for them anymore. Yes, there will be speculation and some who will decry the unfairness of not knowing who was behind it all, but with Felix’ plan, they wouldn’t be blaming you or Chat Noir for that, but rather the unnamed person who discovered his identity after the fact and decided to stay anonymous.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Which would still be us,” Adrien put in, scoffing a little. “They just wouldn’t know that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” said a scratchy voice before a black blur shot out of Adrien’s jacket. “Can you stop being a martyr for two seconds? Sure, your dad’s an evil supervillain, but is that any reason to go down with a sinking ship? You’re not the captain, and there’s plenty of room in the lifeboats!” Plagg floated closer to Adrien, who was staring at him through dark-rimmed eyes. “Please Adrien… you didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s no reason to shoulder this burden. Plus,” Plagg continued, changing his tone to flippant. “If the police seize all of Gabriel’s assets and money, you won’t be able to afford my camembert anymore, and that would be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> tragedy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien actually snorted a small laugh at that, and Marinette found herself smiling, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence fell while she and Adrien thought about what the kwamis had said. To be honest, Marinette was shocked that Tikki took such a pragmatic view of the case. Plagg, she could understand, but Tikki? It was something to consider, at any rate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think…” she said, after a while, “that we need to think about this some more before we make a decision. And, ultimately… it’s going to be up to Adrien.” She fixed Felix with an uncompromising stare. “He’s the one that’s going to be the </span>
  <em>
    <span>most</span>
  </em>
  <span> affected, so he should make the final call.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She turned to him, saying, “I know you’re wrecked right now, love, and you don’t have to make a decision right away. We know who Hawkmoth is now, and considering how long he’s been active, there’s really no rush. A day or two to really think about this isn’t going to matter much in the grand scheme of things. If he happens to send out an akuma before we decide, Felix will just have to play along and we’ll fight it and defeat it- as usual.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien winced at that, but he nodded, and Marinette felt a stab of sympathetic pain for him. He had to be feeling very raw at the moment. She leaned her head against his and whispered, “Whatever you decide, I’m with you one hundred percent.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Felix said, breaking the moment. “I secured this garden until mid-afternoon, and your father won’t be expecting you back any time soon, given that he knows I was going to tell you about him being Hawkmoth. Take as much time as you need to get yourselves sorted- I’ll give you some privacy now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He eyed the kwamis that had snuggled up to their holders in plain sight. “It was very nice to meet you, Tikki and… well, whatever your name is,” Felix said when Plagg remained silent. “It’s clear that you have a good partnership. I hope you can talk some sense into them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that, Felix got up and left the garden.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote Adrien's breakdown, but in the end I decided the chapter was already too long and the breakdown didn't add anything except angst. But then I decided to put it in the notes for those of you who just want to see our boy suffer.</p><p>----</p><p> </p><p>Adrien… couldn’t. He just could not. </p><p>Everything he’d ever known, everything he counted on, his whole life… was a sham. Not that quite all of it was bad… Marinette being Ladybug was shocking in the best of ways! Or would be if that revelation hadn’t come after finding out that his father was Hawkmoth. And that he’d told Felix after years of bad blood between them, yet Adrien had bent over backwards time after time to make him proud, make him happy, and Gabriel had never breathed a word of it to him.</p><p>A confused part of his brain wondered whether that was actually a good thing, though. Because if Gabriel had told him about being Hawkmoth from the very beginning Chat Noir might not exist… or worse, might have been fighting on Hawkmoth’s side all along. The very thought of it made Adrien sick, but at the same time, he couldn’t help feeling betrayed.</p><p>Felix! He told Felix! The man who stole his wedding ring! </p><p>The insecurities he’d been trying to squash for the better part of a decade reared up and whispered nastily, never good enough, can’t be trusted, look who got told- the evil twin, why didn’t he tell you? </p><p>Desperately he tried to focus on something else- on the one good thing about this morning. Marinette, the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to marry, was also his amazing and wonderful superhero partner. He’d fallen for her twice. And… if he wasn’t mistaken, then it was more than possible that Ladybug had always been in love with Adrien. He was the ‘other boy’ from so many years ago!</p><p>But she never trusted you either, that nasty voice said. She never told you who she was… but how likely is it she didn’t know who you were? She’s the guardian- heaven knows old Fu never told you much, and he trained her. She probably got Plagg to tell her who you are and then kept that a secret, too, so you wouldn’t try to pressure her into a reveal.</p><p>“No, no, no,” Adrien whispered, pushing the heel of his palms into his eyes. Marinette wasn’t like that. She’d been just as surprised as he was to find out he was Chat Noir, he’d seen it!</p><p>She’s been Ladybug for years and no one found out until now. She’s a good actress, and you know it. And she took the reveal remarkably well, don’t you think? Almost as if she already knew, and was faking surprise.</p><p>No. Marinette hated liars! Witness her long-standing hatred of Lila Rossi!</p><p>She’s Ladybug. Her whole life is built around lies. So is yours...</p><p>Adrien groaned and the sound built and built until he was roaring out his pain and confusion. He didn’t want to suspect Marinette of ulterior motives. Didn’t want to think about her knowing and not telling him… Wasn’t it enough that his own father was a supervillain?</p><p>Oh god… his father was a supervillain. Gabriel Agreste was the one who had been terrorizing Paris all these years. Gabriel Agreste had deliberately demeaned and hurt people, and everyone said he was just a terror to work for. But… all too often akumas appeared after Gabriel had gone on a tear.</p><p>He’d akumatized Nino, when all Nino had tried to do was talk him into letting Adrien have a birthday party. A birthday party.</p><p>The same birthday that had resulted in the blue scarf.</p><p>Oh god… Style Queen was deliberate. Gabriel had created an akuma that turned Adrien into a glitter statue before he’d even had a chance to get away and transform.</p><p>So much for his assertion that he just wanted to keep Adrien safe.</p><p>Dimly, Adrien was aware that he was no longer standing, but rather crouching on the grass in an approximation of a fetal position.</p><p>You deserve this, the nasty voice whispered. You lived with him for years and you never noticed. Chat Noir never noticed that he was living under the same roof as Hawkmoth. This could all have been over a long time ago if you hadn’t been too self-centered to notice that Gabriel’s behavior wasn’t normal.</p><p>It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t. Hawkmoth- Gabriel’s- actions were his own. He’d deliberately alienated his own son so that he wouldn’t find out. It wasn’t his fault. Adrien let out a broken sob.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Decisions are made, conditions are set.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien drove Marinette home in a state of numbness. He was dimly aware that she tried to make conversation from time to time, but he just wasn’t present enough to do more than give monosyllabic replies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time they left the garden, they’d talked it over and Adrien, whose gut reaction had been to throw Gabriel to the wolves, had no idea which way to go. Tikki and Plagg mostly stayed out of it, except to emphasize talking to the temple guardians if they couldn’t figure it out themselves. Marinette, to his surprise, seemed to be leaning towards following Felix’ plan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien still kind of wanted to say screw it and reveal his father, but… he also didn’t want to oppose Ladybug… Marinette. She and Felix had good points, but deep down he wanted Gabriel to pay for what he’d done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His whole life he’d seen the kind of power Gabriel wielded- and how often he abused that power. He got away with it because he was rich, or the boss, or knew powerful and important people. The times he’d been forced to bow to someone else’s will were few and far between. Even Adrien had bent over backwards to try and keep him happy- vainly chasing after his love.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For once, it would be nice if something happened that he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> buy his way out of, talk his way out of, or blame on someone else. Being a supervillain terrorist bent on changing reality itself for purely selfish reasons, regardless of the impact on anyone else… well, that seemed like it fit the bill perfectly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But… there was everyone else to consider. The very last thing Adrien wanted to do at this point was to disregard the impact of his choices on others, particularly since Gabriel had been doing just that ever since Emilie got sick.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he was torn. He was fairly certain that Gabriel and Nathalie were the only ones heavily involved. Marinette had mentioned something about Lila Rossi when they were younger, and while Adrien could see a possible connection, he felt like Lila had never known much beyond the fact that Gabriel wanted her to spy for him, and Hawkmoth was always ready to use her as an akuma if she managed to get upset enough. He didn’t think Lila had made the connection between the two. If she had, she certainly would have blackmailed Gabriel into doing far more for her than he already had. As it was, while she was still a model at Gabriel, she was so difficult to work with that she either did solo shoots or a scanty few with a male partner- usually Adrien himself. There were even rumors that she was going to jump ship soon and sign with another brand. Adrien, like just about everyone else, had been hoping the rumors were true.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that just highlighted the fact that he believed most everyone around Gabriel to be innocent of collusion. Did they all deserve to lose their jobs, or even to just go through all the stress and panic of finding out they had been unwittingly working for a terrorist? Wouldn’t it be better if they never found out?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But just thinking that made his chest ache. It was a familiar ache- the sting of rejection, of </span>
  <em>
    <span>not being trusted.</span>
  </em>
  <span> So many secrets and lies throughout his life, and at least half of them of the hurtful variety. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Your mother has disappeared.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh wait, your mother fell into a magical coma caused by broken magical jewelry, and your father has been hiding her in his basement lair all these years.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Your father loves you and just wants to protect you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, actually, your father is a supervillain and you’ve been fighting against him all this time without knowing it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All those times Gabriel claimed the outside world was dangerous… and he was one of the ones responsible for making it more dangerous. The irony was nauseating.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He dropped Marinette off at the bakery. She had invited him to stay the night, but he refused. It made him feel even more guilty, but he didn’t want to be with her right now, because even if she didn’t bring it up, this would still hang in the air between them, and that was the last thing he wanted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted another opinion. From someone who wasn’t directly involved. Someone who had been affected, but whose whole life wasn’t hanging in the balance no matter which way Adrien chose. He was too close to this and so was Marinette- they didn’t have the option of being impartial, and Felix had already made his choice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix didn’t relish going back to his Uncle, but he knew it had to be done. Fortunately, he’d already decided what he was going to tell him. To his everlasting annoyance, he was required to make </span>
  <em>
    <span>another</span>
  </em>
  <span> appointment, even though Gabriel had asked- well, more like ordered- him to report back once he’d told Adrien.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While he waited in the foyer, he called Bridgette. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So??! Did you do it??” she nearly screeched as soon as she picked up. Felix chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” he said evenly. “I returned the ring this morning. Gabriel was… surprised, I think. Going forward, it’s quite possible that we’ll be on at least toleration terms. However,” he said, cautiously. “There were some things that came to light that I didn’t know- family matters, that I’m afraid I’m involved in. I’m going to have to stay here in Paris at least another two days and maybe more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, the meeting. I haven’t forgotten. But this really can’t be delayed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can you at least tell me what it is?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix bit his lip. “Not at present. I want to, but… it’s going to be tricky to navigate, and I’d prefer if I could tell you everything after the fact.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The silence on her end of the line was speaking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It will be fine, I promise,” he said. At least, he hoped so. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” she finally said, reluctantly. “Just don’t take too long, okay? We still have a lot of planning to do. This wedding isn’t something that’s just going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>happen</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and while I love your mother dearly, I’d rather not let her make all of the decisions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he said, his voice softening. “Tell you what- I have to wait a bit anyway to hear back from some people. Why don’t you send me a list of what you want my decisions on and I’ll work on that while I’m waiting?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great!” she said, sounding happier. “Watch your inbox.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hung up a few moments later and looked around the spartan foyer. The large portrait of Gabriel and a younger Adrien and painted in funereal colors cast a pall over the whole house. He remembered thinking it was a little much even when Emilie had only been “gone” for a year. Now? He didn’t blame Adrien for moving out at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A half-hour later, Nathalie finally came out of the atelier and said, “You can come in now, Felix.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix offered her a deadpan look. “Are you sure? Perhaps my Uncle would prefer for me to come back at a more convenient time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nathalie simply raised her eyebrows and prepared to close the door in his face again. Sighing to himself, Felix got up and slipped in before she got it closed all the way. Gabriel was once again absorbed in the monitors in front of him, but this time, as soon as Nathalie closed the doors, he stopped what he was doing and fixed his eyes on Felix.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well?” he asked, with not so much as a hint of a greeting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is astonishing how good Adrien’s manners are, considering the example you must set for him every day,” Felix responded. He cocked his head a little, and continued, “I suppose it must be a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ situation with you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel’s mouth thinned, and behind him Nathalie gave the slightest cough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to tell me how Adrien took the news or not?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course I’m going to tell you, and the answer is, ‘not well.’ I have a feeling he’s going to be crying into his girlfriends’ shoulder for quite a while tonight. But don’t worry, he won’t tell her the truth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel sighed, looking down and frowning a little. “You told him why I was doing it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And that didn’t… affect him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix raised his eyebrows. “Remember, you told him Emilie had disappeared with no further explanation. Perhaps if you had told him the truth immediately after the event, or even within that first year, he would have been eager to help. But after more than a decade? He most likely assumed she was never coming back, and he’s long since mourned her and moved on. I can imagine he feels like this quest of yours is something akin to necromancy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel actually flinched. “It’s nothing like that! She’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>still alive!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix shrugged. “I was simply stating what I thought was likely going through my cousin’s mind based on his reactions. He may decide to help after he has had some time to process, but… I don’t think I would get my hopes up if I were you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel looked away, mouth tight. “Very well. I’ll have Nathalie inform you before I send out the next akuma. Hopefully it will be soon, but… the people of Paris have gotten very good at controlling their emotions. It’s harder and harder to find someone with strong enough negative emotions to accept the butterfly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix could tell just how much it pained Gabriel to admit that, but he simply nodded and turned around to go, glad that it was over… for now. Hopefully, Adrien would come to a decision before he was forced to pretend he was going along with Gabriel’s plan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette couldn’t help feeling a little hurt that Adrien didn’t want to spend the night, but she could also understand. At the moment they were, if not exactly at odds, at least not on the same page. She hoped he would get there by himself, but she was determined to let him make the ultimate decision.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was being pragmatic about this, but if she were honest, she would much rather have had the reveal come during the last battle, when she and Chat would have finally beaten Hawkmoth at his own game, once and for all. That way, at least the decision whether or not to reveal Gabriel as Hawkmoth would be made for them. Although… she wasn’t sure now, if the sense of victory could have overcome the crushing realization that Adrien’s father was also his nemesis. That would have been a shock for her- finding out her nemesis was the father of her boyfriend, and her </span>
  <em>
    <span>boss</span>
  </em>
  <span>- and it would have been so much worse for Adrien. It was probably for the best that they found out like this and not in the heat of battle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette wasn’t going to rush him even a little bit, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious. Her sense of duty was urging her to transform and go confront Gabriel herself right now, but she knew she had to wait. Fortunately, she had a lot of practice waiting for things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien waited two days before calling Felix. Fortunately, Gabriel hadn’t found anyone to akumatize in that time. Adrien told Felix to meet him in a certain alley, but when Felix arrived, there was no one in sight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then, between one moment and the next, someone grabbed Felix around the waist and flung him into the air. After that there was a series of swings and apogee free-falls that could only be described as hair-raising- and Felix had joined a parkour club around the same time he met Bridgette, so he was familiar with leaping over large gaps and trusting to balance and his own reflexes to save his skin. The problem was that he wasn’t trusting his own reflexes, he was forced to trust someone else’s.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time Ladybug dropped him on top of the Arc de Triomphe, Felix had to work hard to suppress an impulse to drop down and hug the stonework… or hurl. Beside him, Chat Noir snorted in amusement. Apparently he hadn’t done a good enough job hiding his reaction.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Was that really called for, Ladybug?” he asked, once he’d his equilibrium back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aw, you didn’t enjoy your transportation experience? That’s a shame. But it was the fastest way to get you here!” Ladybug said, smiling brightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir walked over to a large black backpack and picked it up. He dropped it to the roof beside Felix, unzipped it, and flipped a switch. He looked up, grinning, “You’ll need to buy a new phone when you get back to London.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix stared at him. “Did you seriously just use an electromagnet on me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup! Can’t be too careful.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix glared at him, but as Ladybug chose to start the meeting at that moment, he kept his mouth shut.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now then,” Ladybug said, wrapping her yo-yo around her waist. “I assume you’ve made a decision, Chat?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Apparently they weren’t going to be using their civilian names while suited up. Smart- Felix could approve.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir nodded solemnly. “Yes. I will agree to Felix’ plan to erase Hawkmoth and Mayura’s memories- but with a few changes. Firstly, we don’t say Hawkmoth died, we say he decided to give up. If we say he died, then anyone who recently lost a male relative in Paris would be wondering and worrying if they were secretly a super terrorist, and no one deserves that kind of anxiety on top of the grief of losing someone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded thoughtfully. “I didn’t think of that, but you’re right. I wouldn’t want to cause anyone additional pain.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug nodded as well and Chat continued. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Second, I want the temple guardians, or the kwamis or someone to take a look at my mother and see if she can be revived without the wish. If she </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> be revived, we probably need to erase her memories of the Miraculous, too. Either way, we need to come up with a cover story for her and either bring her home, or have her body discovered somewhere and brought home for a proper funeral. I’m tired of having her disappearance be this unresolved issue.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug nodded firmly. “Of course, kitty. I was going to suggest the same thing, actually, but you look like you’re not done yet, so… go on.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir smiled and gave Ladybug a little nod. “Thank you. I’m glad we’re on the same page there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix coughed. “I didn’t know that was a possibility. I hope you didn’t think I don’t care about your mother, I just thought it was likely she… wouldn’t recover, after this. I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat Noir sighed. “It’s fine, Felix. I know you’re not heartless, just… very logical and pragmatic. Moving on- my third condition is that I get to tell Gabriel exactly what I think of him after he wakes up from the memory spell.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix frowned. “What good would that do? He won’t remember any of what he did to make you so angry, and if you tell him he used to be a supervillain, that defeats the purpose of doing the spell in the first place.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat’s expression hardened. “I’m not going to tell him the supervillain part, but I am absolutely going to tell him he was a horrible father. That, at least, I can do. The fact that he won’t be able to remember being a horrible father, and that he can corroborate his actions with just about anyone who has ever come in contact with both of us, will only drive my point home. It will hurt him- hopefully for a very long time. And it keeps me from having to pretend that nothing is wrong and I don’t hate his guts.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix sighed, but not in exasperation. Beside him, Ladybug looked stricken.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, kitty…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She held out a hand, but Chat looked away, folding his arms tightly over his chest. “Do you agree to my conditions?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Felix said at once. He could understand Adrien’s frustration with letting his father get away with his misdeeds, and this was not a bad compromise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... yes,” Ladybug said quietly. “If it will make you feel better about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All at once, Chat Noir’s entire demeanor changed from slightly sulky and withdrawn to cheerful and enthusiastic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great! In that case…” He pulled his baton off his back and somehow made the top half of it slide up. Felix tried not to goggle as, after a few touches to something inside the baton, Chat slid it closed again and stowed it. “We should have some company in a minute.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix stared, but Ladybug narrowed her eyes. “Chaaaaaat… what did you do?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chat’s grin widened. “Oh nothing much. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>may</span>
  </em>
  <span> have borrowed a few of the backup Miraculouses, but don’t worry,” he said, winking, “the people I picked are pretty trustworthy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Chat Noir!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix tuned out the ensuing argument (though part of him was interested to see them slip effortlessly into their superhero dynamic- which had nothing to do with them being a couple) still trying to come to grips both with the insane and impossible physics of what Chat had done with his baton, and how easily Adrien had just buried what must be his true emotions and assumed the persona of silly, slightly mischievous cat-hero.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was jolted out of his thoughts by the arrival of two new heroes- fox and turtle-themed, if he was reading the costumes correctly. Ladybug’s jaw dropped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, look! It’s Carapace and Rena Rouge! Fancy meeting you guys here!” Chat grinned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rena Rouge, the fox hero, looked like she was torn between guilt and glee, while Carapace gave them all a sheepish wave and smile. Felix’ eyes widened. Sure, he’d suggested using more Miraculous holders, but he hadn’t expected Adrien to just… invite people without telling either him or his partner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Carapace said, after an awkward moment when Ladybug did nothing but stare daggers at her erring partner. “So… Chat Noir showed up and said you guys needed help?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Same,” Rena Rouge said. “What do you need from me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t know,” Ladybug said, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Care to explain the plan, </span>
  <em>
    <span>partner?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sheesh,” Chat replied. “You’d think </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone</span>
  </em>
  <span> would learn to roll with the punches a little better, considering she’s spent years literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>throwing</span>
  </em>
  <span> me into the fray with no warning or explanation.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Just get on with it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so I already told Carapace and Rena the bare bones of why we’re all here- namely, that we know who Hawkmoth is, and collectively decided that it would be better for everyone if Hawkmoth quietly disappeared instead of being brought to justice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For the record? I disagree, but apparently I don’t get a vote,” Rena interjected, a bit waspishly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix pursed his lips thoughtfully when Carapace leaned over and whispered in her ear. Rena huffed, but crossed her arms and stayed quiet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug took a deep breath. “Fine. They’re up to speed so far. What did you have in mind, Chat?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix listened carefully as Chat outlined the plan. He had to admit, Adrien seemed to have covered all the angles, and even thought of a few things Felix hadn’t considered. All in all, the next few days were going to be very interesting indeed.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, I originally had ~4,000 words of Adrien angst written for this chapter.</p><p>BUT... I'm trying to get this wrapped up and it served no purpose other than to show Adrien hurting. So I cut it.</p><p>I couldn't bear to just delete it, though, so I'm making this a series, and will post that as a one-shot. It can actually stand on it's own as written, and this way, I'll be able to finish the fic, and people who want to read angst and cry (seriously, I actually cried writing part of it), can still do so.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The team puts their plan into motion.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>It took a few more days to set everything up, and for the extra people involved to practice their parts. It reminded Felix of a heist movie, except they were planning to kidnap someone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The delay gave Felix and Marinette ample opportunities to make sure Gabriel had lots of reasons to be in his car over the next couple of days. Between them, they managed to arrange several in-person meetings and events that he couldn’t ignore, since they were with prominent, powerful people whom he wouldn’t want to annoy or offend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Somehow, even though Marinette was just as busy as he was, Ladybug had time to visit the Temple of the Guardians- though how she managed that without leaving Paris was something Felix wondered about. However, there was probably some kind of Miraculous jewel involved, and the less he knew about those, the better. The jewels made him… uncomfortable. Given what he knew about himself and the expectations of a Miraculous holder, everyone was much better off if he stayed a plain civilian.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette only gave him general reports, since he’d asked that they not tell him exactly when it would happen. He was anxious enough just trying to keep up the impression he was helping Gabriel try to reconcile with Adrien. The akuma a day or two into the preparations ended up being a photographer intent on finding his ‘star.’ Adrien hadn’t shown up to work since finding out Hawkmoth’s identity… and the akuma was defeated without Chat Noir. Felix, as promised, had been on hand to try distracting the heroes, or forcing them to ‘rescue’ him, but he was struck by the akuma pretty early on, and spent the rest of the fight assuming ridiculous poses along with everyone else hit by the akuma’s possessed camera. Ladybug used a laser to overexpose the old-fashioned film and the akuma was defeated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On the hunt for information about Adrien, Felix was sent to the main office. Rumors abounded over Adrien’s sudden defection. Most of it was speculation that he had finally gotten tired of Gabriel’s micro-managing, and many thought Gabriel was getting off light if Adrien was simply not showing up to work. At least that played into their hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, everything was in place and everyone understood their part of the plan backwards and forwards. Felix had used every connection he had to arrange for a personal meeting with a very exclusive supplier for his uncle- as a sign of good faith- and they were in the car on the way when the team put their plan into motion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The traffic was heavy, as usual, and there was no room for their driver to swerve to avoid the accident which occurred directly in front of them. The sound of screeching tires from up ahead only barely preceded a solid thunk and the crunch of metal and glass. It was rapidly followed by several more thunks and crunches. Their driver hit the brakes, but the car jolted forward, as if they’d been hit from behind. Several more distressing bumps and a disorienting sense of tumbling later, Felix opened his eyes to see that their car was wedged on it’s side between several others. Gabriel and Nathalie seemed to be alright, if shaken. They were all pressed together, only their seatbelts holding them off the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw Gabriel reaching for his ascot. Felix grabbed his wrist. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not in broad daylight, uncle!” he hissed. “There will be police and emergency workers on the scene soon. We’ll be alright.” He took out his phone. “I’ll call ahead and let them know there’s been an accident. Maybe they’ll wait for us, or I can reschedule.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a thump on the uppermost car door and suddenly Chat Noir was right outside Gabriel’s window. Only, it was a Chat Noir with… yellow details? Felix wondered what that was about. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See?” he said, stuffing his phone back in his pocket and sending a meaningful look at his uncle. “Perhaps we can ask for the favor of a lift and still get there in time!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Above them, Chat grinned, waved, and used his baton to shatter the window. They all threw up their arms against the falling glass pebbles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey there! Let’s get you out of here before this situation </span>
  <em>
    <span>drives</span>
  </em>
  <span> anyone crazy! I know some people tend to loose their </span>
  <em>
    <span>venom</span>
  </em>
  <span> when they get mad.” Chat smirked and lunged for Gabriel with a hand that had suddenly turned into a stinger.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix stared open-mouthed. Nathalie blocked Chat’s first attempt at Gabriel, but she only ended up frozen for her efforts. Then it was Gabriel’s turn, despite a frantic attempt to fend the superhero off. Felix wondered if he was to be stung as well, but Chat- or was it Bee?- Noir only winked at him before slashing the seatbelts of all three of them and hefting the two petrified bodies out of the car.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oops! Looks like I wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>car</span>
  </em>
  <span>-ful enough,” he said with a cheeky wink at Felix. “Come on, mon cousin- I’ve got to get these two to safety.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix managed to climb out on his own, while Chat leapt over the piled up cars with Nathalie over one shoulder and Gabriel over the other. He was stunned as he took in the sheer scope of the damage. Chat’s plan, as described to him, was to “cause a plausible accident” at a time when Gabriel and Nathalie were both out and about so they could kidnap them both, take their miraculouses, perform the spell, and drop them off at a hospital when it was all over with. He had not imagined them having the sheer nerve to cause a </span>
  <em>
    <span>major traffic accident</span>
  </em>
  <span> just to get two people.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was still waiting on the hood of the car next to the wreck of Gabriel’s when Rena Rouge landed next to him and scooped him up- just like she’d been doing with all the other stranded motorists who weren’t injured. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry,” she said, smiling. “It’s mostly an illusion. Most of these cars are illusion, too, but we needed some way to keep the driver from trying to change lanes before we could initiate the real crash. The illusion will continue until the traffic is “cleared” and then fade away. Meanwhile, we have the perfect reason for Gabriel and Nathalie to lose their memories. They’ll have to get banged up a bit, but I’m pretty sure none of us will mind that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix pursed his lips at that. As distasteful as it was, he supposed the pair did deserve it. “I didn’t know Chat Noir could change his powerset like that,” he commented briefly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It requires something special, we don’t do it often,” was all Rena said as she deposited him on the sidewalk. She left Felix there with a little salute before bounding back into the illusion. He wondered why it didn’t puff into orange mist, but supposed she had also “done something special.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few moments later, he got a text from Marinette with an address. Sighing to himself, and still a little rattled, he made his way to the nearest metro station.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel awoke tied to a chair in a dark room with a single hanging lamp shining down on him. It was cliche, but appropriate, he supposed. The last thing he remembered was driving to a meeting with Nathalie and Felix, a car crash, and then Chat Noir- who  must have merged with the bee miraculous- stinging Nathalie into immobility. Obviously, they had discovered his identity somehow, and he broke out in a cold sweat as he realized Nooroo had probably already been taken from him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nooroo, dark wings rise!” he called, hoping against hope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nothing happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A dozen ideas popped into his mind, but he quickly discarded all of them. None of them would gain him his freedom, much less his Miraculous, and most of them would only leave him in a far less comfortable position- namely, sideways or backwards on the floor, possibly with a broken wrist or arm- while waiting for his inevitable doom.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Emilie,” he whispered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok, if I’m understanding this correctly, the monks or guardians or whatever-they-are told you that my aunt could make a full recovery?” Felix asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. There was a headache starting at the base of his skull, and he suspected it had something to do with the car crash. While Chat, Rena, and Carapace had been dealing with the crash part of the plan, Ladybug had infiltrated the Agreste mansion and retrieved Emilie Agreste. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How</span>
  </em>
  <span> she had gotten her to Tibet and come back in that time frame was a question he was carefully avoiding.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes. She can be healed, and in a remarkably short amount of time. Apparently, she’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>been</span>
  </em>
  <span> healing all along- the guardians told me there was evidence she had been in a much worse state than she is now. Apparently the coma is more like a trance-state, induced by the Miraculous she wore, and intended to let her heal from the damage. If Gabriel had left the Miraculous on her, even broken as it was, she would have healed far faster- within a matter of years. If he had left the fixed Miraculous on her for as little as three months, she would have been completely healed. As it is now, all they have to do is speed up the rest of the healing. She’ll be awake in another day or two.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix stared at her. “Gabriel really is a moron,” he stated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, he is,” Ladybug agreed, smiling. “But I’m glad Adrien will have his mother back. Even though he allowed himself to move on, he still missed her, and the anniversary of her ‘disappearance’ always hit him hard.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wonder if he will see it that way,” Felix murmured.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure he will, in time. Right now he’s too upset by Gabriel’s actions to think past that, but…” Ladybug sighed and looked into the middle distance. “I just hope his mother is really as kind as he remembers her. I don’t want to see him discover she’s more like Gabriel than he thought.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t remember Aunt Emilie very clearly, but if she’s like my mother, she will definitely have her moments,” Felix said. “Still, I don’t think he’ll be disappointed in her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope not.” Ladybug sighed. “Anyway, everything is on track for erasing their memories. I’ve got the potions prepared and the temple guardians checked my work, so I’m confident they will erase all memories having to do with the Miraculous. In fact, since Gabriel compartmentalized his two lives so effectively, it’s possible that he will have snatches of memory, or even full memories of everything he’s done that did not deal with the Miraculous. Nathalie used the peacock so rarely that her memory will be even more intact. That will actually help us, since partial memory loss will be far more convincing than losing a whole decade of memories would be.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I’ve arranged for the news reports,” Rena Rouge said, stepping into the conversation. She looked tired. “I fed the story to a reporter I know who works for one of the major French news sites. The discovery of Mrs. Agreste in a small hospital in East Asia will hit the newsfeeds tomorrow. Adrien can make a statement saying that they got notification from the lawyers today, and that he, his father, and his father’s assistant were on their way to the airport when the accident occurred.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix raised an eyebrow. His suspicions concerning her identity- and that of Carapace, who had provided the shield Gabriel’s car had </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> crashed into- were falling into place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien’s going to take my place in the car? I suppose that’s believable enough, even with the fact that he hasn’t been around the last few days. When will you administer the potions?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Technically it doesn’t matter, because however long we take, we can arrange to deposit him at a hospital soon after the crash to avoid suspicion… but I’d like it to be soon. I’m just waiting for Adrien to decide whether he wants to speak to Gabriel before that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded. “I’ll go ask-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug put a hand on his arm. “No. Let me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix looked at her a moment, then waved his arm as if ushering her into a room. “If you insist.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien was on the roof of the building they’d chosen to hold Gabriel in- not transformed- when Ladybug found him. There was a chest-high wall around the edge of the roof to avoid accidents, and Adrien had his arms folded on top of it, staring out over the city.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien?” she called softly as she approached. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is it time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Almost. I came to see if you wanted to say anything to him before we give him the potion.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why would I? He won’t remember it.” Adrien sounded listless, maybe a little sulky.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, but…” Ladybug sighed. “I know you’re angry, and I appreciate that you’re not taking it out on me or anyone else, but it’s not good to keep inside like you’ve been doing, love. I know you- you don’t hold grudges very long, if ever. But you’ve been brooding about this ever since Felix told us Gabriel’s identity. I think you need to let it out- for </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> sake, not for Gabriel’s,” she emphasized. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien remained silent, and Ladybug chewed her lip. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>am</span>
  </em>
  <span> worried about you. This will be the last chance for you to confront him about anything related to Hawkmoth, and I know you’re only reluctantly going along with this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. Her forehead rested in the little dip of his spine and she sighed. “If you don’t want to do this, we can still turn him in,” Ladybug said, quietly, but loud enough to be heard. “I know it was one of Felix’ conditions, but he can’t exactly go back in time and </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> tell us. We know, now. I just don’t want you to be hurting anymore.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien sighed, deeply and long, and she felt him relax. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t even know what I’d say,” he said. “I honestly don’t think there’s anything I </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> say that would make a difference to him. And he won’t remember it, so…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t be talking for his sake, but for yours. To get things off your chest that maybe you’ve tried not to think about for years, and just… get it </span>
  <em>
    <span>out</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so it stops festering.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Another deep breath. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right. I just… I’m so </span>
  <em>
    <span>angry</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and I’m afraid I might… do or say something I’ll regret later.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug stayed quiet for a minute. “I know you,” she finally said. “And one of the things that first made me fall in love with you is your kindness. But you have to remember to be kind to yourself, too. Whatever you say, whatever you do, Gabriel won’t remember. And don’t forget, we </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> have to rough him up for our explanation of memory loss to be believable. As long as you don’t cataclysm him, it’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien tensed again, and Ladybug shut her eyes, grimacing to herself. “Sorry. I know you wouldn’t do that, no matter what he’s done.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He relaxed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay. I’ll be down in a minute or two.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug started to pull away, but Adrien gripped her arms where they circled him for a moment, squeezing them in silent thanks and she smiled. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He’s going to be okay. Maybe not right now, and not in the near future, but… he IS going to be okay.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel had lost track of time and didn’t know how long he’d been tied to that chair in that little room. He’d been given water and some food, and even allowed a bathroom visit (although he thought having Carapace cast Shellter around the bathroom while he was in it was a bit of overkill), but the majority of his time had been spent alone in that room, tied to his chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door opened, and he looked up expectantly. Maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir would finally deign to confront him? He wasn’t asking for much, just an opportunity to rail at them for </span>
  <em>
    <span>ruining all his plans!</span>
  </em>
  <span> If he did it right, hopefully it would shame them into helping him anyway, even if they still refused to give him their Miraculouses.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But it wasn’t Chat Noir or Ladybug, not even Carapace or Rena Rouge. No, it was someone far worse. It was his son.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien let the door shut behind him and stood with arms folded, just looking at him with a curiously blank expression.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel said nothing. The moment he’d looked at Adrien he’d been overcome with such a wave of shame… he was still trying to push it back, insisting that he’d only been acting in Adrien’s own best interests this whole time, when Adrien finally spoke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You won’t remember this conversation…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He trailed off, as if there was more to say, but he wasn’t sure how to say it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? I was expecting police, a trial, and a media cir-” Gabriel started.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Adrien interrupted, unfolding his arms and taking a few slow steps toward him. “No, we all collectively decided that none of the people who work for you deserve to be cast into suspicion and face losing their jobs just because you’re a raging psychopath.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel winced reflexively before his native pride and arrogance rose up. “How dare you speak to me that way! I am your father!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not anymore,” Adrien said, his tone completely level. He looked… at peace. Gabriel felt cold.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“At first,” Adrien continued, “I didn’t know whether I wanted to talk to you at all before it happened, but now- now I think it’s going to be just as cathartic as they told me it would be to get a few things off my chest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Like I said before, you won’t remember this conversation. They’re going to give you some kind of magic potion to erase all the memories you have that concern Miraculouses. There’s an even chance that this means erasing </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> your memories for the past decade.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel swallowed convulsively. “That’s…” he couldn’t find the words to describe the horror of that thought. It wasn’t half his lifetime, but it was a significant chunk of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better than you deserve, honestly,” Adrien said in a musing tone. “If it were up to me, I would get Officer Raincomprix here so fast he would use up a whole ticketbook on fines for himself, and hang the consequences to me or to anyone else. In my opinion, you deserve to rot in prison for the rest of your life.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I did it- for you, for your mother-” Gabriel gasped out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you didn’t,” Adrien stated, just as calmly as before. Gabriel himself felt increasingly unsteady. He was used to thinking of Adrien as emotional, unstable, in need of guidance and handling in order to ensure he stayed on an even keel. Given Felix’ description of how he took the news, he had expected Adrien to moan and wail if he tried to confront him, not this… dispassionate mask.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>did-</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You did it for yourself, and no one else,” Adrien again interrupted. “You certainly didn’t do it for me. You are a bad person and a worse father- while I can imagine that you may have had a few moments of remorse here or there, you never cared about what the effect of a revelation would be on me, or anyone else. You did a good job of hiding it, I’ll give you that… but pushing me away so I wouldn’t notice had an unintended consequence. Namely, you lost out on one of the things you were seeking.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel stared at him openmouthed, uncomprehending.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Plagg, claws out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before his eyes, Adrien- </span>
  <em>
    <span>his son</span>
  </em>
  <span>- turned into Chat Noir. A very grim-faced Chat Noir. Gabriel’s mouth worked, but silently. His fears and suspicions rose up to accuse him as he stared into the cat’s eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just wanted you to know two things. One, you could have had mom back years ago if you’d just bothered to </span>
  <em>
    <span>ask for help</span>
  </em>
  <span> instead of playing the villain. In fact, she’ll be waking up tonight or tomorrow if the temple guardians are true to their word. Yes, she sustained damage from the broken Miraculous, but the old guardian could have healed her a lot faster. So you missed out on six or so years you could have spent with her. And secondly, when I walk out of this room, I walk out of your life.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Again, all Gabriel could do was stare as a wave of cold dread washed over him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When you turn up at the hospital after the “car accident” which destroyed your memories- yes, that accident was staged for that very reason- I will probably come visit you in your hospital room, and Nathalie as well. But that will be the last time. Marinette has already resigned her position as a designer for your company in order to accept an offer from another design house- I’m not going to tell you which one, so don’t ask. You will not be invited to our wedding. Whether mom will be invited or not is still up in the air. It depends on how she reacts to catching up on ten years of missed news reports, many of them concerning- did she but know it- her husband’s villainous acts. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. You won’t meet your grandchildren until they themselves decide whether they want to risk a closer relationship with you or play it safe and remain no-contact.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Adrien…”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel’s whisper was a plea- a plea which Adrien ignored.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve lost it all. You’ve lost the fight, you will lose your memories- most of them, anyway. I actually kind of hope that you’ll retain those connected to your day-to-day life, if only so that you’ll know exactly why I’m choosing to cut off all contact. But if you do lose those, you won’t have any idea why I hate you. And that will hurt you worse than anything else, worse than any prison sentence ever could. I should know- it’s how you treated me for years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He leaned forward now and lost some of his passivity. “You made me feel like nothing was ever good enough. Like you couldn’t trust me. Like I was bad, or wrong somehow for simply </span>
  <em>
    <span>having emotions.</span>
  </em>
  <span> God- you had the </span>
  <em>
    <span>butterfly Miraculous!</span>
  </em>
  <span> Didn’t you ever use it on </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, to see how I was doing? How I was holding up? How could you possibly justify what you put me through, what you put everyone through, all because you couldn’t-” Adrien cut himself off abruptly, turning away. “Why am I even asking? There’s no point. Goodbye Gabriel.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, please…” Gabriel begged shamelessly. The look of utter contempt and… and </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span> in his son’s eyes had been the last straw. Adrien paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Will… can you ever forgive me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a moment Adrien said nothing. Then, softly, “I don’t know. Maybe. But if I ever do it will take time. A lot of time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then he was gone, and all Gabriel could do was sit and think about how he had ruined his relationship with his son. Even the knowledge that Emilie was going to be back with him couldn’t ease his guilt. He’d always intended to roll back time with his wish- to erase all the mistakes and heartaches he’d caused along the way, all the intentional cruelty and indifference he’d resorted to, time after time, chasing after someone to akumatize.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that wouldn’t happen now, nothing would be erased. Everything he’d done, whether as Gabriel or Hawkmoth, would remain in people’s memories… all except his. His heart clenched. This wasn’t what he’d wanted. He’d only wanted to get Emilie back- to heal his family. Without the ability to change the past, he was suddenly terribly afraid of the future. Even without his memories, without the revelation of his identity as Hawkmoth, there would be repercussions. He’d already lost Adrien. Perhaps- he flinched from the thought, but his reviving conscience completed it anyway- perhaps even Emilie might even turn away from him, once she realized just what kind of a person he’d been, even without knowing his supervillainous deeds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dread settled on him. Adrien was right- he’d been a bad person, and a worse father. He recognized his own state of mind and wished for one terrible moment that whoever now had the butterfly might sense him… but of course that wasn’t going to happen. He sank into gloom, and didn’t even put up a token resistance when Ladybug finally entered his room holding a cup.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He drank what he was given and his last thought before losing consciousness was surprise at the sweet taste.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry there was such a gap between chapters this time. I had a really hard time getting a handle on the conversation between Adrien and Gabriel, but I think I managed to do it justice.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A neat little bow.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <b>Emilie Agreste Found Alive!</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>11th September</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eleven years ago, Emilie Agreste, wife of fashion mogul Gabriel Agreste, mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind her husband and son. Investigators, both state and private, were unable to uncover any clues as to her whereabouts. That changed a week ago, when the Agreste lawyers were contacted with information on a possible sighting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After making positive identification, the family lawyers say that she awoke from a coma in a small village in Tibet almost a month ago and was not able to make herself understood until recently. Sources are unclear why Madame Agreste was in Tibet in the first place, but a local spokesperson stated that she was found by villagers a little over a decade ago and brought to their village for care.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Fashion Icon Involved in Traffic Accident, Recovering</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>11th September</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel Agreste, fashion mogul, and father of well-known national model Adrien Agreste, was involved in a major traffic accident yesterday. He, his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur, and son Adrien were in the car at the time of the accident. Mr. Agreste and Ms. Sancoeur were taken to hospital with minor injuries and are recovering. Adrien Agreste was also examined, but declared no injuries.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sources claim the family was on their way to the airport in response to news that Emilie Agreste nee Graham de Vanily, long-time missing wife of Gabriel and mother of Adrien, had been located in Tibet after more than a decade.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Is </b>
  <b>
    <em>Gabriel</em>
  </b>
  <b> in Trouble?</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>20th September</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sources say Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste, is leaving the company, following his long-time girlfriend (possible fiance?) Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a rising designer, who recently accepted a position at ----.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both of them say the change was a long time in the making, and has nothing to do with the recent return of Emilie Agreste. Sources confirm that relations between the two Agreste men have been colder in recent years, but there is speculation that the car accident and associated head trauma suffered by Gabriel Agreste, and now the loss of it’s star model as well as a promising designer will put the company on a downward trend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug and Chat Noir stood on the steps in front of City Hall and waited patiently for Mayor Bourgeois to finish his opening remarks for the press conference. Fortunately, he kept it short and sweet, and then they stepped up to the podium and the hovering flock of boom microphones.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for coming today. We called this press conference because we have good news for the citizens of Paris. A few hours ago, on one of our routine patrols throughout the city, Chat Noir and I came across the abandoned Miraculouses of Hawkmoth and Mayura.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gathered reporters immediately started shouting questions, making Chat Noir’s ears curl back in mute protest. He was glad Ladybug was the one making the announcement. Even now, months after the initial reveal and despite his experience in hiding his true emotions, he wasn’t sure he could have faced the crowd so calmly without betraying himself. He kept a frown off his face, but he wasn’t smiling by any means.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug held up her hand and the shouting stopped. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Obviously this raises many questions. There was a note attached to the jewels which answers some of them, and which I will now read for the public record.” Ladybug opened her yo-yo and pulled out the note. Chat already knew what it said, but he stood listening anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ladybug and Chat Noir- you win. My partner and I are relinquishing the fight, as we are getting too old to continue it. If you had given the last two akumas a chance, I would have conceded defeat through them and arranged a time and place for you to collect our jewels. Despite what many believe, my motives have ever been pure and I do not wish these to fall into unscrupulous hands. As it is, I must leave them in an inaccessible spot and hope you come across them before anyone else does. If anyone does rise up as a new Hawkmoth or Mayura, the blame will fall on you.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ladybug looked back up for the cameras, her expression grave. “The jewels and note were indeed found in an inaccessible spot, and while my partner and I regularly find ourselves on that particular rooftop, for safety’s sake we try to keep our patrols random, and didn’t discover them until last night. The note explains why Hawkmoth has been quiet for so long, and I only wish we had discovered them earlier. We will, of course, relinquish the note for textual analysis to Paris’ police force, and I’m sure they will do everything they can to uncover the identities of our former enemies. However, since the jewels are now in safe hands, and magic is no longer an issue, Chat Noir and I must bow out of any further investigations, unless it becomes clear that more harmful magic is being used. Of course we hope Paris will not encounter any more supernatural threats, but if it does, rest assured we will be here to combat them. We won’t be taking any questions at this time, and I suggest you refer those you have to the Chief of Police or Mayor Bourgeois.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With another nod, Ladybug stepped back from the podium, handing the note she still held over to the mayor. She gave Chat a small smile and then they turned and used yo-yo and baton to take them up to the roof and away, leaving a riot of shouted questions in their wake.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, that’s over,” Marinette said, coming into the living room of the boys’ apartment with a tray bearing four mugs of ‘special’ hot-chocolate and a pair of croissants each. Adrien lounged on the couch, scrolling through the news and social media. Nino and Alya were curled into each other on one side of him. Alya had been at the press conference, of course, covering the event for the LadyBlog, since as a very junior reporter for a local news station, she didn’t have the status to cover the press conference for her actual job.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know about ‘over,’” she commented, accepting a red and black polka-dotted mug. “Everyone’s going crazy about the sudden disappearance of Hawkmoth and what it means, throwing out theory after theory about who was behind the masks and the attacks.” She took a sip and looked at Marinette, smiling ruefully. “A lot of people are faulting you two for not catching H and M before. It seems a lot of people were looking forward to a public trial and shame-fest,” she said, significantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette just gazed back at her steadily. “Blaming us for not catching them earlier was always going to be some people’s reaction. And at least this way, Adrien and the rest of Gabriel’s employees don’t have to pay the price for Gabriel’s villainy.” She settled back into the couch beside Adrien with her own black mug that had molded cat ears on the rim, one of them with a tiny ceramic ladybug perched on the tip. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien stayed quiet, accepting the mug that was shaped like an actual ladybug. Nino, on his other side, grabbed an orange mug that had a handle shaped like a curled fox-tail, and shifted to put his feet down on the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Speaking of, how are you holding up, my man?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien gave them all a half-smile. “It’s only been two months. I still kinda want to throw him under the bus, but…” he shrugged again. “He’s not the only one who would be run over. I get that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette and Nino both scooted closer to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know I’m team ‘throw him under a bus,’ too,” Alya said, but then her expression softened. “But I also get where Nino and Mari are coming from. I don’t want to watch you have to deal with all the suspicions, sunshine.” She extended a fist and Adrien bumped it, his strained expression relaxing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re all here for you, bro,” Nino said. “You don’t have to keep anything back or worry about making us upset or mad. You have every reason to be upset and mad and you’ve got to let some of that out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien nodded, draining the rest of his hot chocolate. “I know. My therapist says the same thing. He doesn’t know about the superhero angle, but just from what I’ve told him in the three sessions we’ve had about how I grew up…” he shook his head. “I can’t believe I used to think that was normal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You were pretty sheltered,” Marinette said, sliding her hand into his. Then she sat up and stared at him wide-eyed. “I hope you don’t think we’re doing the same thing to you that Gabriel did! Because if you do-” she started flailing her hands, “- I don’t care what we just said in front of the press! If you have even the slightest doubt that we’re trying to manipulate you, I’ll bring Gabriel in myself and confess to everything! The memory wipe, being Ladybug-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whoa, Mari, stop!” Adrien cried, catching her hands. “I don’t think you’re manipulating me,” he assured her. “And it’s a good thing you’d already put your mug down, or we’d all be covered in hot chocolate right now,” he chuckled. He gave her a smile, still a little sad, but a smile all the same. “You’re forgetting that you gave </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> the choice. And while I did feel a little pressured to pick what you and Felix wanted, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> made that choice, and I’m prepared to live with it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette’s face crumpled with worry, but Adrien reached up and smoothed her brow. “I’m not in that house anymore, and cutting off all contact is really helping, okay? I’ll get through this- with your help, with Alya and Nino, and my therapist. It’s going to be okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He leaned forward just enough to kiss her forehead. Then, as they all settled back into the couch and started watching a trashy drama, he reflected that this wasn’t so bad after all. Part of him still wanted to shout the truth from the top of the Eiffel Tower, but he supposed the reality they had had it’s good points.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel was making strides in becoming a better person, and his mom was smoothing over the feathers he still managed to ruffle. He still wasn’t ready for anything resembling a close relationship with his father, but Emilie met him for coffee from time to time and had seemed to finally accept the state of affairs. His college plans had accelerated since he’d formally quit modeling, and he was planning to propose at the end of the spring semester. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now that Alya and Nino also knew their superhero identities, Adrien didn’t have to keep things as close to his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And there was Felix and Bridgette’s wedding to look forward to. He couldn’t wait to see the dress Marinette was going to wear for it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Amilie Graham de Vanily</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Francis and Cordelia Somerset</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Cordially invite you</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>to attend the wedding and reception</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>of their children</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Felix Graham de Vanily and Bridgette Somerset</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix scanned the invitation for any errors before approving the final draft. It was elegant but simple and suited both him and Bridgette.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you don’t mind?” he asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Felix, it’ll be fine,” Adrien replied, on the other end of a video call. Felix had called him about the guest list when the need to proofread the invitations brought it to mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know mom would really love to be there, but I know she would hate to go without Father. I’m a big boy, I can handle being polite in a public setting. As long as you don’t seat us at the same table, we’ll make it work,” he said, with a smile that was only a little bit strained. “Besides, it’ll be six months since the reveal by the time you get married. That’s plenty of time to work out the logistics.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded. “I know Bridgette is looking forward to meeting just about everyone </span>
  <em>
    <span>but</span>
  </em>
  <span> Gabriel. I think she’s already contacted Marinette several times.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien smiled. “She has. I have to say, I think you found a great woman in Bridgette. Marinette and I both like what we’ve seen of her on video calls. We’re looking forward to meeting her in person.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix smiled. “That’s settled then. </span>
  <em>
    <span>All</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Agrestes will be invited to the wedding.” His smile faded a little. “How are you holding up, by the way?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s been… better, since I cut off all direct contact with father,” Adrien admitted. “It all comes flooding back whenever I see him, so since I </span>
  <em>
    <span>haven’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> been seeing him… Mother is still trying to catch up with everything and get to know me. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> trying to reconcile us, but she’s backed off now. Gabriel… from what people tell me sometimes he acts like he has no idea why I left, and other times he seems to get it. I have to assume his memory is patchy, but accurate. Apparently he’s been treating everyone much better- not acting like a petty tyrant anymore. He’s also fired a bunch of people who were problematic to start with, including Lila. I know the fashion magazines are looking at this change in his personality as a sign of weakness, and speculate whether he’s still fit to run the company, but… honestly, the people I’m still in contact with say they’ve never been happier to work for him. He still has a long way to go but, for them at least, things are looking up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He paused, his eyes going distant. “I think mom is the catalyst. I still remember what Father used to be like before she disappeared, and this is sounding a lot like what I remember.” Adrien sighed. “It could have been like this all along. I wish… I promise this isn’t as terrible as it’s going to sound, but I wish I could have been enough for him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Completely understandable,” Felix said. “By the way, you should know that Aunt Emilie has called my mother several times, insisting that Bridgette and I use the twin rings in the ceremony. Bridgette is still on the fence about it because of everything that went down between our families, and I’m honestly unsure how I feel about using them now. We’re still discussing it, and I don’t know what Gabriel thinks about it. I’m not sure if he even remembers me stealing his ring, since it was connected to an akumatization.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t know,” Adrien said flatly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix glanced up from his laptop screen where he was finalizing the flower order and nodded. “I know, Adrien. I’m not asking you to find out, just telling you one of the reasons I’m hesitant.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s expression relaxed. “Talk to my mom about it, then. Like I said, she’s still learning everything that happened while she was in the coma, and sometimes she doesn’t think of things or make connections that someone who lived it would.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll do that. Now, I’m afraid I’m about to be very anti-social so I can concentrate on finding the perfect flat. Give my love to Marinette!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will. Talk to you later, Felix.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix ended the call with a smile. Smiles were getting to be a much more frequent facial expression for him, and he found he liked it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix slid the twin ring onto Bridgette’s finger with a rueful smile, but recited the vows without a single mistake, looking directly into her shining eyes. There was amusement and understanding there, and he was thankful once again that she had annoyed her way into his life. A few moments later, she was sliding the other twin ring onto his finger and making her own vows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The officiant pronounced them husband and wife, they performed a chaste kiss that left some of their audience audibly disappointed, and then they turned to face their assembled family and friends. Felix picked out the faces of his aunt and uncle, sitting next to his crying mother, with Marinette and Adrien sitting a few rows behind them. On Bridgette’s side, he recognized all of her friends as well- all of them smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix was a little worried about how the reception would go, with no orderly rows of seats dividing the Agrestes, but seemingly by mutual agreement, Marinette and Adrien stayed to one side of the hall, and his aunt and uncle kept to the other. At first Felix tried to devote himself to Bridgette, thinking she might be exhausted after all the stress and anxiety leading up to the day. But true to form, Bridgette seemed to be full of energy and after dancing once with him, abandoned him to go and dance with each of her personal friends instead. Felix made the rounds of the non-dancing guests.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she accosted Adrien though, Felix decided to dance with Marinette.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” he said, as he twirled her expertly. “Has my idiot cousin proposed yet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette giggled. “No. But I don’t blame him. Apparently, before everything came out, he was thinking of giving me one of his mother’s rings as an engagement ring, to keep her memory alive. But now…” she glanced over to the table where Emilie was sitting with Gabriel, both of them chatting with Amilie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix nodded. “He’s always been a romantic. I suppose now he’ll take another two years to find the ‘perfect’ ring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette just smiled. “I don’t mind. We’re both still busy with school and work, and honestly we hadn’t planned to get engaged until this summer at the earliest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I suppose your extracurriculars haven’t suffered since the change?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette’s smile was sly and secretive. “Not so you’d notice. In fact, they’ve gotten a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> easier to handle. There were reasons for doing it the way I did for so many years, but I’m finding that the new way definitely has its perks as well.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I suppose not having to deal with a terrorist routinely interrupting everyone’s day </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span> make things easier.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes. Did they air the press conference Ladybug and Chat Noir gave here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They did, but as short as it was, they still cut it down to a soundbite. I watched the full thing on the LadyBlog of course. I don’t suppose anyone will ever know their real identities- any of them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marinette sighed. “Yes. Sometimes I wish things could be different. After all, some American superheroes don’t have to hide their identities. It would be nice if Paris could celebrate their heroes in their civilian forms, too. Did I tell you my class threw a party for Queen Bee once?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Chloe?” Felix was surprised. “But she wasn’t a hero for very long…” And for good reason, in his opinion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, she wasn’t, but even so I think her brief stint helped her to mature.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix just hummed. “I suppose you have a point. Now then, as lovely a dance partner as you are,” he pulled her across the dance floor, just in time to see Bridgette lightly slap Adrien’s chest and laugh, “I think I see someone else who wants to dance with you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was terrible!” Bridgette said as they approached. “I can’t believe you actually looked up wedding puns!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien grinned without a single hint of remorse and Felix caught Marinette’s eyeroll out of the corner of his eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop corrupting my bride with your deplorable humor, Adrien,” he said. “Also, I believe you owe this young lady a dance.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adrien grinned. “You know, I think you may be right about that.” With a wink for Bridgette, Adrien whirled Marinette away from them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix extended his hand to Bridgette, who took it with flair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The night wore on and guests began to leave. Marinette and Adrien- staying in a hotel for the night- stuck around until the last few guests said their goodbyes. Adrien took a moment to hold both of their left hands and finger the twin rings. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They look good on you,” he said, with a sad smile. “I hope they bring you both more happiness than… than normal rings would have,” he finished somewhat lamely. But if Adrien had been about to say what he suspected he had been about to say, Felix was glad he’d changed it into something else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you came to Paris last year,” Adrien said, with a significant look which Felix acknowledged with a nod. Then his cousin wrapped his arm around Marinette and they left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix, faced with an empty reception hall, guided his sleepy bride up to their honeymoon suite, reflecting that- all things considered- he was glad he’d gone to Paris, too.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And so we reach the end. I hope you all enjoyed this little fic! I know I enjoyed exploring Felix' character as it might be when older, and how this reveal worked out. And I'm curious as to what significance the twin rings will end up having in canon. I kind of like my interpretation, but I'm biased. ;)</p><p>I'm still of the opinion that revealing Gabriel as Hawkmoth would be the best way to resolve the issue, but... life and reality don't always cooperate when it comes to dealing with sticky situations.</p><p>Anyway, I hope you all stay safe and well.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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